Battle Scars
by A. X. Zanier
Summary: A filler fic that got out of control. Enjoy! COMPLETE
1. Chapter 1

Author: A. X. Zanier

Title: Battle Scars

Rating: PG-13 (Language)

Disclaimer: I do not own The Invisible Man or the premise behind the show. Any additional characters or premises are mine.

Timeline: Starts off 2 weeks after Interlude and ends just before the events in OITC

Comments: Filler fic to cover the two months between the two stories.

Music: Precious Illusions by Alanis Morissette and Out There by Sister Hazel

Battles Scars

November

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A childhood idol to millions of boys, GI Joe, stating the obvious, grunted, "Knowing is half the battle."

In this case I think I'll go with another military man, Sgt. Shultz. "I know notink."

He stood there staring at the dark metal door before him, swaying slightly in his exhaustion, still not entirely sure why he'd come here instead of going home. Why he'd felt the need to be here instead of collapsing into his bed for the sleep he so richly deserved and his body desperately craved.

He adjusted his hold on the bag in his hand slightly to keep it from slipping from his fingers, shifted to press an aching hand on the buzzer and, until that moment, it didn't dawn on him that she might not be awake. That she was probably just as tired as he was and might have done nothing more than kick off her shoes and collapse on her bed to fall into a deep slumber.

The mere thought of sleep made his eyes want to drift shut and stay that way, but he forced them to remain open, wanting to talk to her more. When the door slid open, he straightened and pretended to be far more awake than he felt.

"Darien, shouldn't you be at home?" Alyx asked in concern. Not only had he gotten the crap beaten out of him again, but he'd also hit stage three and had to be dragged kicking and screaming to the Keep for his shot. In fact, it had been her who had beaten him up when he'd gone first after Bobby then her. She'd been as gentle as she could, but he was damn difficult to deal with when quicksilver mad and twice as stubborn.

She'd been forced to handcuff him and his comments about "liking it rough" had been more than enough to make her want to grind her teeth to dust, especially when he'd followed up his words by frosting and snapping the cuffs and making yet another attempt at raping her. Oh, he didn't see it that way, but his actions struck her far too hard and she'd reacted with a cold calculation that had shocked even Hobbes. 

"Didn't wanna go home yet." He realized he was slurring his words and cleared his throat. He handed her the brown bag in his hand. "Peace offering." She took it from him a bit reluctantly it seemed to him. "Hobbes, uh ... filled me in on my ... my..." He groaned at himself, not able to even say the words.

"Lack of decorum?" Alyx supplied her tone flat.

"Yeah, that." His hand came up to rub the back of his head. "I ... can I come in?"

Alyx stepped aside and waved for him to enter. That's when the smell hit him, roast turkey, stuffing, gravy all mingled together and he stopped cold, suddenly feeling more awake. "Crap, today's Thanksgiving?"

Alyx moved past him and to the kitchen. "For about another two hours." She filled in for him. She wasn't surprised he'd forgotten. They'd been busy as hell for the last week and the Fish hadn't even made the slightest hint the day would be anything more than work. 

They'd actually been working nonstop since early yesterday, the three of them chasing down leads, just one step behind the shipment of equipment they were trying to steal back from the smart-asses who'd stolen it from a government warehouse. They'd never been told what was in those crates just that they had to get it back and now. Took thirty-seven hours in the last two days to finally accomplish that task. Catnaps in Golda didn't do much for sleep recovery, even for her.

Based on the way Darien looked, it did him even less good. Add in the madness and it's less than enjoyable side effects and he was looking quite sorry right now.

"Did you even stop at home to change?" 

"Umm, no?" He shuffled forward, noting the beautifully set table, unlit candles, folded napkins, dried flowers for a centerpiece, and two place settings. He came to rest, his elbows on the high counter that faced the steel I-beam that supported her heavy bag wondering idly if she had company coming over for the meal or if she'd been forced to cancel because of work. 

She shook her head and opened the oven to baste the turkey breast that was nearly done. "I think you left some clothes here, go take a shower and we'll eat in about an hour." 

Darien just stared at her in surprise for a long moment. "You don't have to do that. You've got company coming. And I just wanted to ... to apologize."

She wiped her hands off on a dishtowel and turned about to face him. He looked sad, upset, and exhausted. Felt that way as well, along with guilty. "Darien ..." She took a deep breath and moved to stand across from him, three feet of dark gray countertop separating them. "We'll talk, okay? After you feel a bit more human."

He nodded. Not quite sure what to say. She led the way to her bathroom and came out of her walk-in closet with an overnight bag he recognized and that he vaguely remembered leaving in her car about a week or so ago. "So that's where that went. I was wondering."

She held it out to him. "I meant to return it sooner, but work bit us on the ass and we've barely had time to breathe never mind deal with personal shit."

"Not entirely true." Darien disagreed softly, his hand ignoring the bag and coming up to cup her chin. He somehow managed to do nothing more than to lean his forehead lightly against hers, his hand sliding about to rest on the back of her neck. He damn well knew why'd taken that darker path of sexual play with her and he damn well knew Hobbes would pound his ass to a pulp if he ever found out about it. While Hobbes'd been talking to one of his Hobbes-net contacts in the pre-dawn hours this morning, his two partners had been trying to steam up Golda's windows in one rather heated and spontaneous make-out session.

She shivered at his soft-spoken words and touch. She was thankful he did nothing more, perhaps sensing she would not handle it well right now, even if he didn't understand the real reason why. "I know, that's part of why we need to talk." She sighed and then slipped away, placing the handle of the bag in his hand and leaving the room without even a backward glance.

Darien sighed heavily then carried the bag over to the counter, set it between the pair of sinks and unzipped it to dig through the contents. He'd packed it for an overnight mission that had gotten canceled at the last minute so it had a complete change of clothes as well as various other necessities including a toothbrush and his back up hair products. Not that what his hair looked like mattered a hell of a lot to her, or to himself right now.

While feeling a bit odd about stripping and showering here, at her place, he still did so. The two days worth of grime making his skin crawl now that he was really aware of it. He somehow kept his mind on the needs of the moment and, though he shivered at first, kept the water set far cooler than was his preference, but it was effective in not only waking him up, but cooling him off in other areas.

He'd just been so damned shocked at himself and at her response this morning. She'd quickly gone back to being solitary and distant around all of them, while at the same time far less angry and depressed since coming back. Instead of fighting what was going on she seemed to have just been going with the flow. Doing the work and taking those classes that the Official assigned her several mornings a week. Quite often she'd catch up with him and Hobbes during the afternoon and join in the fun of saving the free world from those who tried to hustle illegal parakeets to pet stores across the US.

The recovery job they'd just finished was the first big one they'd been on in a while and it had been surprisingly difficult. Some drunken fools with delusions of grandeur had broken onto the Navy base and into a warehouse and stolen the first thing they found, figuring they could make some fast cash with the local gangs or militant groups by selling the stuff sight unseen on the internet. There had indeed been interest by various groups, but there had been a far larger interest in getting the stuff back unopened and undamaged.

Though why on earth the Agency got the job, he had no idea, though he suspected the Official had just horned in on the recovery in the hopes of scoring some brownie points and extra cash for the coffers. 

It was the events of early this morning that he kept going over and over in his mind, and it was those very same events that had triggered his less than gentlemanly behavior toward her later. Grabbing her bottle a shampoo her poured a small amount into his hand and got to work scrubbing his hair clean while he went over the memories.

It was weird, once he hit a certain point in the madness these days, and if she was around at the time, he went a little, okay a lot, weird. He could vaguely remember thinking that Hobbes was moving in on his territory and gone after him first so that he could have Alyx all to himself.

Then she'd dragged him off Hobbes and cuffed him, tried talking to him, though he still couldn't remember what she'd said and knew it didn't really matter. From there he'd headed straight for the deep end of the gutter and tossed out just about any and every slimly sexual comment he could think of and, once he'd broken the cuffs, had backed her into the nearest solid object, the stolen crates. He then proceeded to describe in graphic detail exactly what he wanted to do with her using those very same handcuffs he'd so recently freed himself from.

Alyx had then beaten the crap out of him.

Darien chuckled softly as he rinsed off the soap. Unless his mind was seriously jumbled, he'd deserved it. And, to give her credit, she hadn't hurt him that badly. Two punches and one kick and he'd been down and pretty much unaware of anything until he'd woken up in the Keep, madness-free and with an ice pack being held to his ribs by Claire. Though according to Hobbes and Claire he'd been fighting every step of the way.

Turning off the water he wrapped a towel about his waist and stepped over to the mirror to check out the already forming bruises. Two small circles swiftly shading over to purple and blue, delivered by her fists with a deadly accuracy that shouldn't have surprised him, yet still did. He suspected she'd held back when putting him down and hoped like hell the cold anger he seemed to recall seeing in her eyes had been a temporary reaction and not a permanent one.

Towel drying his hair he went over the ... the kiss they'd shared in the back of Golda. It'd been her turn to catch a nap – Hobbes' orders – and had curled up on the floor in back while they waited for Hobbes' contact to show and provide the next step on the path to the missing goods. Hobbes had ordered Darien to stay in the van when the guy finally showed and he hadn't argued, had just swallowed a yawn and nodded in acknowledgement.

Darien had been fighting the urge to doze off when Alyx had started muttering in her sleep and when he looked over at her saw a familiar sight as she seemed to be caught up in some dream, a nightmare at a guess. Concerned, he moved to her and crouched down beside her where she lay on the old blanket they kept around for those colder nights and long stakeouts. She'd found some jacket of Bobby's and rolled it up for a pillow.

He'd set a hand on her shoulder and shook her gently while calling her name, only to have her jerk awake with a hastily suppressed scream. Then she'd buried herself against him, quaking in reaction. Once he'd gotten her calmed down he'd found himself holding her face in his hands, wanting to ask if she was all right and had found himself kissing her.

And Alyx had done nothing to stop him.

Shaking his head at his reflection, he growled at himself and forced his thoughts elsewhere before an annoying and involuntary reaction occurred and parts of him began to vanish. Pulling the clothes out of the bag he began to dress, wanting to just forget it. Not the kiss, per se, that had been very enjoyable indeed. No, it was stupid gland suddenly butting in causing the moment to suddenly get very chilly. She'd laughed it off, but he'd seen the shock in her eyes. Not at his reaction, but at what they had done. What she had done.

He put the finishing touches on his hair, it wasn't perfect, but after the last couple of days and the lack of appropriate supplies he wasn't expecting a whole lot.

Stepping back out into the main apartment his stomach growled loudly at the scents that permeated the air, reminding him it had been quite a few hours since that hastily inhaled lunch. Alyx was standing at one of the windows looking out over the darkened water she could see over the roof of the building across the street.

"Thanks." It was the only thing Darien could think of to say. She was wearing a pair of dark gray slacks and long sleeved shirt that looked to be made of gray silk. It had an iridescent shine to it that picked up the subtle lighting of the room and reflected it back with golden hue.

She turned about and gave him a small smile trying to not react to the way he was dressed. Black jeans, white tee and that green zippered sweater she'd seen him wear a couple times before and always did wonderful things for his looks.

"Feel a bit better? You looked half dead when you arrived." She turned back to the view out the window as she spoke. As usual he was causing her massive amounts of confusion and warring emotions, leaving her not knowing what to say or how to react. She heard his sock clad feet cross the distance separating them, felt the warmth radiating from his body as he came to a stop a couple feet behind her. It was the sleepy emotions coming from him in quiet waves that struck the hardest. Worry that she was angry with him; concern, that she was feeling less than well; guilt, for what he had done earlier, want, need, passion, all tangled together and aimed at her.

"Much, though about twelve hours of sleep would be nice." His stomach rumbled again and Alyx snorted.

"I'd say part of you disagrees with what's first on the list of needs'." She glanced over her shoulder at him, surprised to see him looking awkward and almost shy in the low lighting of the room.

"Well, can ya blame me? It smells wonderful. How'd you get it ready so fast?" He stayed in place sensing she wouldn't appreciate him coming nearer yet.

She shrugged. "Been planning this for a week or so. Habit I guess. Can't remember the last time I didn't plan a huge dinner for today." She knew she sounded wistful, maybe even sad, but she had every right to be. Getting stuck working might have been the best thing for her as it kept her distracted and from wondering what was happening across the country.

"Oh. I guess I better head out then." He should have realized this wasn't just something she'd slapped together at the last minute.

"You don't need to go. I had planned on inviting you, but we were so damn busy..." she trailed off as she caught his reflection in the thick bubbly glass moving that final step closer to her, now mere inches away. 

"Me? Why?" He'd wondered who the second place setting was for, but had figured she'd put it up to simply balance out the table or some other frilly Martha Stewart type thing he would never understand. Whatever etiquette and manners had been drilled into him by his mother had long since been worn away by reality and a life far harsher than the one she had ever hoped for him.

She turned about to face him. "Why not? I've no place to be and little interest in spending this supposed holiday alone. You are one of the few..." She shook her head. "Make that the only person who willingly and voluntarily spends time with me. Least I could do is cook you a decent meal." She pushed past him just seconds before a timer went off in the kitchen and when he followed, staying on the far side of the island counter again, he found her pulling rolls out of the oven.

The turkey breast lay on the cutting board waiting to be carved, the gravy in its boat, the stuffing and vegetables in bowls and the bottles of wine opened and awaiting the glasses it would be poured into. She slid the rolls off the baking sheet and into the basket, which she quickly covered with a deep red towel to keep the heat in. "Give me a hand moving the food over?"

"Sure." The kitchen was more than roomy enough to allow them to work without jostling each other and a few short minutes later the table was covered in the bounty the local grocery store had been so willing to provide for their feast. All that remained was the turkey and he was surprised when she handed the obviously sharp knife to him.

"You can manage to use that right?" she inquired when he just kind of stared at the carving knife in his hand. He just nodded and, after a moment to plan his attack, went to work. With a smile she made sure he didn't see she went to the table and poured the wine into the glasses and made a few minute adjustments to where things were placed. Making sure everything was in just the right spot was a duty, a requirement, and, she was learning, a habit that she didn't care much for anymore, but couldn't yet seem to break.

"Where do you want it?" Darien asked looking over the now crowded table with amusement. 

"Uh, well..." she lifted the centerpiece out of the way. "Right there." As he set the platter of meat down, she set the decorations on the nearby counter. Going back to the table she waved at one of the chairs. "Sit, please." 

Darien wanted to say something, anything to get her to open up, but couldn't think of a damn thing at the moment and settled into the nearest chair with a nod. Alyx poured the white wine he'd brought into the glasses and then sat across from him.

"Hell." she muttered and got to her feet to cross the room to her entertainment center. "Forgot the music." She sorted through a pile of and chose about six, all of which she loaded into the CD player. She played with the buttons for a moment and by the time she'd rejoined him at the table the classic Alice's Restaurant was pouring out of the speakers.

Darien froze for a second in surprised recognition of the song. "I haven't heard this in years."

"Me either. I wanted to start a new tradition or two." She waved at the food. "Eat before you pass out from hunger." She handed him the stuffing and eyed him until he spooned a generous amount on his plate. 

"Satisfied?" he inquired as she continued to watch him.

"Not even close." she replied, as she lifted her glass and sipped at the wine, finding it pleasantly dry and slightly tart, she caught the look Darien shot her way and tried to hide the blush that suddenly colored her cheeks. 

He set down the bowl and moved onto the next item until his plate was nearly overflowing with food. He made sure she had served herself as well and was relieved to see her plate nearly as full as his. They ate in silence for several minutes; both needing to refuel and both using it as an excuse for not beginning the discussion that they knew needed to happen between them.

He was sipping at the wine and debating seconds on the turkey, stuffing ... hell everything when he looked over at Alyx to see her watching him with a hint of a smile on her lips. Screwing up his courage he started at the logical place. "I'm sorry."

"I know." she said softly. She poured herself more of the wine noting that there was very little left in bottle. She drank down a fair amount and got to her feet to retrieve the second bottle from the kitchen. Darien was pouring the remainder of the first into his glass and looking anywhere but at her.

"What happened this morning wasn't planned, I want you to know that." He risked a glance up at her to find her standing there holding the bottle.

"None of this was planned; not by us anyway." Alyx all but sneered. She set the bottle down and rubbed a hand across her tired eyes. "Look, can we just forget it happened, please? Forget the whole damn day?"

Darien's heart sank to meet up with his stomach and chasing away any appetite he had left. He finished off the wine in his glass and poured more from the new bottle. That was not the direction he'd been hoping to take the conversation and after several minutes of silence and more drink he came to a decision. "What if I don't want to? What if I want to talk about what happened?"

"What's to talk about?" To cover her discomfort she picked up a few dishes and carried them to the kitchen in preparation of cleaning up from the meal she'd cooked and just gone and spoiled for him with her intentionally harsh attitude.

Darien got to his feet and followed her with a few more dishes, not about to let her run away now that he'd gotten this conversation started, however badly. "How about you, me, and the ... the."

"The make-out scene in Golda this morning?" She supplied bluntly and saw his jaw tighten as she turned to look at him over her shoulder. "Don't make it out to be anything more that it was."

He gaped at her as she returned to the table for another load and began to pack away the food without so much as a glance in his direction.

"So I take it I was not your knight in shining armor to whom you were giving your virtue after rescuing you from the nameless monsters that haunt your dreams." The sarcasm was so thick that fancy knife he'd used earlier would have snapped if used to try to slice it.

Alyx laughed dryly. "Knight in shining armor? What an ego. Almost as large as that hair." She regretted the words as soon as they leapt from her mouth, but wasn't about to take them back.

Darien knew that defensive tone of hers. "Methinks the lady doth protest too much." This time when she tried to walk past him he stepped in front of her, not allowing her to pass. 

"Darien, there is nothing to talk about. It was a mistake and ... and ... and you're not listening to a word I'm saying, are you?" Alyx complained in irritation.

"Oh, I'm listening. I just don't believe you." Darien reached out and took one of her hands into his own. "And I doubt you do either."

She opened and closed her mouth several times, trying to protest, trying to deny, and finding herself unable to. "It doesn't change my stance on the matter."

Darien sighed. "I don't care how we met, Alyx, I'm just glad we did." He released her hand and stepped aside allowing her to go back to avoiding him for now. 

She walked past him three times and finished clearing the table before saying anything. She knew he had no idea how hard this was on her, why she was so insistent about not getting involved, or why she had all but mauled him this morning and she wasn't about to tell him. Didn't want his pity, didn't want apologies, and didn't want to face his rejection once he knew the truth. Sure as hell didn't want to be hurt again.

"If you'll help me clean up, we'll talk. Okay?" she asked in a voice that was only shaking slightly. He was very upset with her right now and she needed, wanted to defuse it. "I can't promise anything."

Darien considered. "All right, just try not to shut me out." He watched as she turned away from him, quite plainly fighting with herself over this.

"I'm not sure I know how." she muttered softly and turned to dig out storage containers to put the leftovers in. Darien helped and when the time came volunteered to dry the dishes that didn't fit into the already stuffed and running dishwasher. 

The CD had changed along the way and was now some classic Billy Joel, a live recording from the sound of it, and was surprised when he caught her moving to the beat and even catching her singing along a time or two. He didn't say a word though, she was finally relaxing a bit and that's what he needed for the upcoming discussion.

Once the dishes were done, the counters cleaned and the scent of coffee drifting through the apartment Darien set his hands on her shoulders and steered her to her living room and made her sit, turning deaf ears to every protest she made. He finally got her to hush by kissing her.

"Ah, hell. That is so not fair." she grumbled when he released her, causing him to chuckle softly. His hands still cupped her face and he was still close, his soft laughter making her want to melt in his arms. She leaned forward slightly her lips brushing against his. "Thought you wanted to talk?"

"Uh, yeah. I do." Settling back, to put some space between them and reduce the temptation she inevitably was for him. "Will you give me a chance? Give us a chance?" he blurted out, knowing that if he waited, tried to pretty it up, the words would become lost. Simple and direct was probably the best way to go with her anyway.

Alyx closed her eyes for a long moment. Such earnestness in his voice, such desperate hope and longing, and she was going to have shatter it and hope he wouldn't hate her for doing it. Knowing she needed to meet his eyes while answering she opened hers and faced those sadly sweet brown eyes of his. "Darien, I can't. I won't and you know my reasons why. Nothing has changed."

"Damn it, Alyx, I don't care about the fat man's involvement any more. Not sure I ever did." Darien took a deep breath to get back in some sort of control. Yelling at her would get him nothing but a swift invitation to leave.

"But I do. Don't you get it? He shredded my life to try and fix yours." Her tone was far more pleading than angry. "You may be willing to fall for his little game, but I'm not."

Darien rubbed his forehead certain he was getting a headache. "Look, forget the fat man, forget the Agency. What if we'd simply met? Bumped into each other at ... at ..." He didn't want to use the typical grocery store or newspaper stand with her. The CD changing again, this time to light jazz, gave him an idea. "At one of the outdoor concerts held at Balboa. Maybe you dropping your money paying for a drink and I pick it up for you." He could see that she was completely unconvinced of this scenario. "Work with me here, okay?"

After a moment of internal arguing Alyx nodded. "So you think we'd hit it off as two normal people?"

"Alyx, I think once we'd met, no matter how, no matter where, sparks would fly." He told her truthfully. "You gonna argue the point?"

She shook her head. She damn well knew her attraction to him had been immediate and had only grown stronger over the succeeding months.

"Then why not? Why be so stubborn just cause the Fish was the one to get us together?" Darien pressed the point home and saw her tense up for an instant, then relax, almost as if in defeat.

He was right and she damn well knew it. The Official and his plans, while still a valid reason to avoid a relationship with Darien, was not the main one any longer. It was facing stiff competition from her past and the skewed perspective on life that past had left her. While part of her wanted this, to be with him, with almost the same desperation she felt coming from him, the rest wanted no part of it. It would require giving up far too much and breaking some promises she'd made to herself. Promises that she still saw as the only way to protect herself and keep what was left of her heart in one broken and bruised piece. Yet, somehow, he made that pain, those wounds easier to bear and she found herself not wanting to admit it.

"All right." she whispered, her voice shaking slightly with the simple words. She wasn't quite sure where they'd come from, quite certain a decision was still a long internal argument away.

"What? What did you say?" Darien wasn't sure he'd heard her correctly, couldn't believe he'd talked her into it.

"I said all right' we'll give this a try, but I'll warn you now, I sincerely believe I'm not ready." The mixed emotions on his face made her reach out and gently stroke his stubble-roughened cheek. "I'll give you what I can, Darien, but I can't promise it'll be enough for you."

He pulled her close, their foreheads resting against one another. "Anything, Alyx. Anything I can get. It'll be more than I had yesterday. Hell, more than I had ten minutes ago."

But will that be enough?' she wanted to ask again, but was completely distracted by his lips finding their way to her ear and down the side of her neck. "Ah Dare." she muttered softly as he slid aside the collar of her shirt to graze his teeth on her collarbone. 

"Problem?" he asked with his mouth still pressed gently against her skin. This was even better than this morning and a lot more comfortable than the floor of the van. He hadn't even realized they were lying down till just now and raised himself up on his arms to look at her, her hair loose and wild, her eyes drowsy with passion, her shirt open just enough to reveal the swell of her breast. He swallowed with difficulty and sat up, watching as she levered herself up onto her elbows. "Crap." he muttered softly, trying to keep the gland from participating this time and barely succeeding.

Alyx suddenly, and much to both their surprise, yawned. He'd been successful at getting her to relax; however, it had the side effect of making her body realized exactly how tired she was. "Sorry." she apologized, feeling embarrassed and hoped he wouldn't interpret the reaction the wrong way. A moment later he covered his own yawn with a hand.

"We need to sleep." Alyx straightened her shirt and sat up. "Do you want to crash here?" She offered with little hesitation.

"Nah, I'll make it home okay." He knew he was going to have to take it slow with her and was willing to wait. Besides he really did need the sleep more and she'd still be here come tomorrow. "No need to make Hobbesy all suspicious." The truth of that statement and all it implied suddenly sank in. "We're gonna hafta keep this quiet ain't we?"

"Yeah," she agreed. "But we can deal with that later. Give me a call when you wake up, okay?" She kissed him quickly and got up, heading to the kitchen to get him a cup of coffee for the drive home. 

Darien fetched his shoes and bag of clothes from the bathroom and joined her a couple minutes later. "Thanks for the dinner, Alyx." He slung strap of the bag over one shoulder and took the travel mug from her, taking a sip from it as they walked to her door.

"You sure you want to drive? I can call you a cab." She didn't want him falling asleep at the wheel while driving across town.

"Nah, I'm quite sure I can think of things to keep me awake for fifteen minutes." He ran his fingers down the V of her shirt and toyed with the button holding it closed. 

"You." She fought to hide the rush of heat that stained her cheeks and then sank lower as well, the warmth spreading through her stomach and between her thighs, making her want to talk him into staying and do anything but sleep. He did that chuckle again, the knowing one, and blinked lazily at her.

"G'night, Alyx." he said once across the threshold.

"Good night, Darien." She watched as he walked down the hall and to the huge service elevator. Even once he was out of sight, the rumble of the lift having died away she still stood there; misgivings already making her regret the decision she had made.


	2. Chapter 2

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December

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Margaret Thatcher, Prime Minster of England for many years, once observed, "You may have to fight a battle more than once to win it."

Well, yeah, but it helps if you know just what you're fighting against.

"Miss Silver, kind of you to join us." The Official commented in a gruff voice as Alyx entered the room a good thirty minutes late for the meeting and far later than she usually arrived at the office.

Alyx didn't bother to comment, there was little point in explaining what had happened and she was definitely not in the mood to deal with either Hobbes' or the Official's moods right at the moment. "Oh, gee, sorry, sir. Next time I'll make sure the rest of the world revolves on your precious schedule." Alyx made sure she poured just the right combination of saccharine and sarcasm into her words.

"See that you do." The Official snapped right back. "Eberts."

"Sir." He nodded to the Official then faced the agents before him. "Your new assignment..." Eberts began only to be interrupted by Hobbes.

"New assignment? Think we can finish the one we're working on first?" Hobbes shifted slightly and looked over at Fawkes who nodded in agreement,

"He does have a point. We've tracking these guys for two days." Darien added with a hint of annoyance. Tracking some low-end gunrunners, but it was far more interesting than being on budgie patrol. 

"Someone else can handle it. You three have bigger fish to fry." The Official looked downright smug and that was never a good thing. He nodded towards Eberts who cleared his throat and continued.

Eberts opened the file folder in his hands and withdrew a photograph, which he proffered to Hobbes, who took it with ill grace. "Doctor Kirkland Geofferies, employee at Novadyne Systems."

Alyx stepped a bit closer to get a look at the photograph over Hobbes' shoulder. It was a black and white photo that was probably the basis of the guy's employee ID picture. Medium dark hair, light eyes, though what shade for either couldn't be discerned, wire rimmed glasses, cute under the almost standard geek attire.

"Novadyne, they do chemical research right? More efficient gasolines, cheaper geothermal power, lots alternative technologies." She looked over at Eberts. "Right?"

"Kid, where the heck did you find this out?" Hobbes asked as he turned about in his seat to look at her.

"In this amazingly informative publication called the newspaper." Alyx explained in a dry tone. "They had an accident in one of their labs last week. Couple of techs died."

"Very good, Miss Silver. There is reason to believe the accident was deliberate." The Official said with a nod of acknowledgement for her being one small step ahead.

"Why am I not surprised?" Darien muttered then leaned forward in his seat. "So what were they killed for? Cold fusion, cleaner Plutonium, synthetic gas, what?"

"That's what you're going to find out." Eberts answered. "Dr. Geofferies was the lead scientist on the project and the only survivor."

"Convenient." Hobbes commented. "How'd he miss getting crisped too?"

"Luck, supposedly." The Official offered. "Claimed he received an emergency phone call and had to leave. Ten minutes later..."

"Boom." Darien filled in.

"Pow." Hobbes countered.

"Kablooie." Darien offered up as an obvious challenge.

"Kapow. Bang. Biff. Thwack. Yeah, yeah, we get it." Alyx rolled her eyes as she intentionally broke in on their banter. "Can we move past the Batman rerun?"

"Jeeze, kid, loosen up would ya?" Hobbes grumbled more than loud enough for her to overhear, causing her to shrug and head back to her spot by the window.

"Kiddies, play nice. The good doctor is under suspicion of causing the explosion." The Official admonished them.

"So pick im up." Darien thought he was stating the obvious.

"Unfortunately, we can't. He was questioned by the police at the time of the incident and released when his alibi was confirmed." Eberts told them and watched as all three frowned slightly. "He has since spoken to several investigators, but appears to have little information."

"Has his lines down pat, does he?" Darien asked, having a good idea of what the guy was doing to throw off the cops. "Has he taken a lie detector test yet?"

Eberts shook his head. "Not yet and, as of right now, he's not on the list."

"He still working at NovaDyne?" Alyx pushed away from the wall and paced slowly the length of the room.

Eberts picked up the folder and thumbed through it. "Yes, reconstructing the lost data." 

"So you want us to sneak in and get a look at his hard drive." Hobbes summed up.

Darien snorted, but got control back when Hobbes shot a glare at him.

"No." The Official stated. "I have reason to believe he's going to sell the original data to the highest bidder and anything he's working on is dummied up. There'll be nothing of value to find on his ... hard drive."

"So then how? Bump into him on the street?" Darien didn't like the way this was going for some reason, and liked it less when the Official's gaze locked on Alyx and stayed there.

"Not exactly."

"Not exactly, my ass." Alyx complained as she struggled to get her hair into some sort of control. Tonight it wanted no part of doing as she requested, stray pieces flying everywhere until she finally gave up and just left most of it down and twining a few sections back into thin braids that got lost among the curls. For a minute she considered hacking it all off, but sighed and glared at it instead, which did nothing to get it under control. 

"I hate dresses, I hate heels, I hate all this fuss and bother, and I'm seriously considering hating this job."

"I'm sure you look fine, now get out here." The thick door separating them muffled Darien's voice.

"Don't wanna." she nearly whined. "Don't wanna do this stinking job. Don't wanna go out in public looking like ... like..." The sound of the lock being picked caused her to turn so when Darien swung open the door she was facing him. "...this."

Darien blinked. "Wow. You look..."

"Don't you dare," she warned taking a couple steps towards him and wagging a finger at him.

"Beautiful." he finished, closing the distance between them. The dark gray dress would have been modest on anyone else, but on her it was stunning. Though he had to admit to a bit of bias.

Alyx groaned. "I'd rather been in my black leather pants. I've never been the frilly type. Three brothers took care of that quite handily." She turned away and went back to the mirror, her heels clicking loudly on the tile floor to emphasize her unhappiness. "And my hair has decided to be completely uncooperative."

Darien chuckled. "Let me see what I can do." He moved to stand behind her and looked over the items she had on the counter.

"Dare, I do not need..." she pointed at his reflection and upswept hairstyle.

"Gimme some credit, would ya." He sorted through the items and came up with a bottle of hair gel he'd left here.

"Ah, not that. Like the normal snarls aren't enough." she argued in vain.

He leaned down to whisper in her ear. "If that happens, which it won't, I'll help get them out later." Causing her to shiver in reaction. Leaning over slightly he turned on the faucet and wet his fingers. Choosing a section at random he dampened it and added a small amount of the gel. He then began to twist the section until he had a tight coil of hair. He proceeded to repeat the process here and there, leaving the braids she'd already done in place as a contrast. "What did you do to it anyway?"

"Your fault." she mumbled enjoying the feel of his hands. "Used that conditioner you recommended. Made my hair go poof'."

"That it did. Toss that one and we'll try again." He was coiling another section even as she began to laugh. "What?"

"This is not a conversation I ever expected to have with a guy. Not a straight one, anyway." she explained, still chuckling. "Almost done?" 

"A couple more and that should do it." Moments later he stepped back to survey his work. "Much better, far less poodle."

"Hey, I do not ever look like a poodle." Though she had to admit what he'd done had tamed her misbehaving mane. The braids now loose and, in some cases intertwined, with the spirals of hair. Reducing the volume and giving her a unique look. "Not bad. Thanks, you." She turned about and gave him a light kiss, which he deepened until she moaned softly.

"You're welcome." he replied when he released her. She no longer looked uncomfortable in the clothes, looked like she belonged in them, in fact. "Sorry, I made you late this morning."

"Murphy made me late this morning. Stupid accident blocked traffic for over a blinking hour and it wasn't like I could just move the cars for them and clear the way." Alyx shook her head. "Next time just go home when you're that tired, okay?"

"You could come to my place on occasion, ya know." Darien mentioned as he washed the remaining gel off his hands and watched as she opened the small plastic case and gingerly removed the first contact lens. "Remind me why you have to do this?" He happened to like her eyes the way they were.

She followed the optometrist's directions for putting the damn things in and was rewarded with success. Course she had practiced at the office until the doctor was satisfied with her skill. She blinked a couple times to make sure it was going to stay in place and turned to Darien one eye silver and the other a startling green. "Cause silver eyes are a bit too memorable according to the boss man. He wanted me to color my hair too. I told him no way in hell'. He said he could arrange that." She picked up the second one. "We got a good, yet astonishingly bitter, laugh over it."

Seconds later she was a typical green-eyed redhead who wouldn't really stand out in a crowd. The buzzer for her door went off then. "Just in time, that's probably Hobbes."

She got that far away look in her eyes for an instant. "It is. Would you let him in while I finish up?"

"Sure." He gave her a quick kiss then walked towards the door. "You still look beautiful."

"Behave. I do not need more glares from that man." That came out a bit snippier than she intended, but Darien just nodded and closed the door as he left the room.

Hobbes banged on the door and bellowed something Darien couldn't quite make out. Undoing the locks he slid it open and stepped aside. 

"Way to make and impression on the neighbors, Hobbesy."

Hobbes actually managed to look a touch embarrassed. 

"Where's the kid?"

"Right here." Alyx said as she came out of the bathroom trying to convince the earring to go in and stay this time.

"Good." He looked her over critically. "Well you don't look underage anyway." He set down the metal briefcase on the dining table and opened it. "Lets get you wired up, kid."

Alyx frowned, still not liking this part. "Do I really need the bloody wire?" She walked over to him and looked at the equipment carefully packed in black foam padding. *_It's not like I need it.*_ she sent to both men.

Hobbes visibly twitched and glared at her for a second. "Can't record that, kid."

"It's for your protection as well." Darien added softly. They'd had this argument earlier, once it was made plain by the Official they would use persuasion to get the info they needed instead of more direct methods like breaking into Geofferies place while he was at work during the day. Though he was about as thrilled as Alyx that she had to play the bait in this one.

It was part of the plan though. Work had to stay work. Same attitude, same actions, same occasionally nasty bickering. At the end of the day he often wanted to rush to her place, no matter the hour and apologize, to make up for the sometimes harsh words and crappy attitude he'd thrown her way during the day.

They had yet to make it into her big bed, in fact, Darien had this tendency to fall asleep on her sofa since they'd been working so damn hard and such crappy hours. Their last full day off had been the day after Thanksgiving. Even Hobbes had complained to the Official they were trying to do too much and needed break, but it didn't look to be stopping anytime in the near future. Christmas was just a couple weeks away and he'd had zero time to buy anything of consequence.

"My protection." she sniffed in disdain. "Paid voyeurism is what it is."

"Kid, do we hafta go through this again?" Hobbes sighed loudly. "We can't send Fawkes in cause its by invite only and you have the invite. He can't do the inviso-routine for long enough to do any good. And if you get into a real trouble I trust you to get out of it. You're getting top marks from your instructors, kid."

The compliment at the end shocked her, especially since she could feel he really meant it. The close working conditions for the last month had increased her mental awareness of him and, while not nearly as strong as her connection to Darien, it was still there. Bobby was always a whisper in her head and, though he still had issues with her and her more unique abilities, he was coming to trust in them, to trust those skills and, to a very small degree, her.

"All, right. Show me what ya got." She had identified the pieces, but wasn't sure how he wanted to rig her up. She picked up the earpiece with its thin, but still noticeable, wire attached. "I'm not gonna be able to wear this."

"Huh. You are correct." Hobbes lifted the tiny microphone and comparatively small transmitter that went with it. The battery pack, which would normally be attached, still lay in its compartment. "You can power this right? Without frying it?"

Alyx took it from him and looked it over both with her eyes and her extra senses. "I need the specs if you have them." He handed her a small booklet, the page she already needed, marked for her to read over. Once she had the info she needed she gave it a test and, as best as she could tell without actually using it, it seemed to be working. "Got it, Hobbes."

Darien had wandered over during their little discussion and was looking over the gear as well. "Where'd you get this stuff Hobbes? This ain't the Agency's usual quality of goods."

"True enough, my friend. The Chief pulled a few strings and got them on loan for the duration of this little endeavor." Hobbes answered sounding a bit smug.

Darien didn't like the sound of that. "Do I wanna know what's going on?"

"Need to know, my friend, and you don't..."

"Need to know. Got it." Darien completed the now familiar phrase. "Well, you may have the honor, Hobbes."

"Honor? What?" Hobbes looked up at his tall partner in confusion.

"I believe Darien thinks you should be the one to wire me up, so to speak." Alyx filled in being very careful not to crack the slightest hint of a smile, never mind laugh.

"Oh, umm, uh." Hobbes responded glibly, which caused Alyx to bite her lip.

*_That was not very nice.*_ Alyx sent to Darien.

*_Nope. But it was fun.* _he responded with obvious humor.

"I think I can handle it, Bobby. Where do you need the mic?" Alyx made sure defer to him even if she knew exactly what to do. Bobby was senior and needed to be treated as such, especially with him being all-suspicious and lecture happy lately. He obviously figured out something was going on, but seemed unsure about exactly what.

"Uh, as high as you can manage, kid." He looked her over again, noting how close fitting the dress was and debating asking that she change. "Kid..."

"Let me give it a go first, okay?" She'd caught not only his look with the prerequisite frown, but the tenor of his thoughts. Hobbes nodded and she went back to her bathroom to see if she could get the mic, wire, and transmitter assembly in place and invisible under the close-fitting dress.

Hobbes closed the case for the time being to give him something to do with his hands besides throttle the man grinning next to him. "Fawkes, that was..."

"Amusing. Come on, she's your partner and perfectly capable of keeping it professional and you know it." Darien told him point blank. Ever since Hobbes had given him lecture number two about the company pier and then hanging – literally hanging – a Fish and Game "No Fishing" sign in Golda, Darien had made sure to tread warily about Hobbes when it came to Alyx. Often backing Hobbes over Alyx when the inevitable conflicts occurred. 

Hobbes grunted in reply.

"Well?" Alyx asked as she returned. She turned about slowly and allowed both men to look her over.

"Good job, kid." he commented after a few minutes. "What do you think, Fawkes?" 

Darien's eyes roved over her causing the room to suddenly feel much warmer that it already was. "Well... If she's wearing it I sure can't see it."

Hobbes nodded. "All right, kid, we'll meet up as planned and check out the gear, then send you in."

Alyx swiped the purse she'd bought to go with the dress and double-checked the contents, wallet with fake ID, credit cards and cash, cell phone, pager and car keys, which she pulled out. They made their way to the garage where the vehicles were parked. She stopped by the driver's door of the van.

"Bobby, I can kinda keep a ... a watch on you guys just in case you need to get info to me in a hurry. If that's okay with you." The hesitation in her voice was real. "It won't be intrusive and you'd have to actively try and contact me for me to notice anything." she added quickly so that he'd, hopefully, understand what she really intended.

"Tell ya what, you keep contact with Fawkes and he can relay." While Hobbes did like the option of having her being able to hear them when needed, without the risk of her wearing the ear-piece, he'd much rather not have her eavesdropping on his mind. He looked over at Fawkes who nodded.

"Works for me." Alyx agreed and scooted for her little silver Jag. She started with a roar and drove it pell-mell to the exit, the tires squealing around the corners. 

Hobbes started Golda with a grim look and followed at a far more controlled speed, which was unusual for him.

"What, Hobbes? You have that the shit's gonna hit the fan' look again." If Hobbes had concerns about the plan, about Alyx, he should have spoken up sooner.

"Not sure. Just ... This is tricky work, Fawkes, and I'm not sure she's up to it yet. Top marks or not." Hobbes admitted with a touch of reluctance.

Darien relaxed back in the seat. "Hobbes, trust me on this, she'll handle it just fine." 

Hobbes shot him a glance that was more than a little suspicious. "Fawkes, I know something is going on between the two of you and it had better not be what I think it is, cause if its what I think it is..."

"Hobbes, she's my friend and we spend time together. Just like you and I do. Why do you insist on making it into more than it is?" Darien snapped in frustration, finding the phrase very familiar for some reason. Sometimes Hobbes was too paranoid. "You spend time with Claire, should I be on your case about it day and night?"

"Shit, Fawkes, that's something completely different." Hobbes growled, his temper borderline. Without a thought and no commentary from Darien, he reached into his jacket pocket and pulled out a pill bottle. In seconds he had it open and had dry swallowed two. By the time he'd put the bottle back in his pocket he'd calmed somewhat. "Look, I know from experience that friends, female friends, usually don't stay that way for long. And it ain't often you get a happy ending out of it."

Darien couldn't help it, he shook his head and Hobbes caught it out of the corner of his eye. "Sometimes, some things, are worth the risk." he said in softly serious tone that earned a surprised look from his partner. Luck was with him as the traffic chose that moment to become far more interesting than the current conversation.


	3. Chapter 3

***

December Continued

"Well, well, well. Our good doctor cleans up awfully purty." Alyx's voice wafted out of the equipment perfectly clear and sounding like she was right next to them.

Hobbes rolled his eyes. "Stop checking out the merchandise and get to work." Then he sighed, realizing she hadn't heard a word of it. 

Darien sat on the floor of the van, leaning back against the wall and stared into the distance. Above his head hung the "No Fishing" sign, and he tapped out a beat on his thighs in hopes of irritating his partner as he waited for something to do. Unless there was an emergency he was to sit here cooped up with Hobbes while Alyx got to drink and schmooze for the evening. Hobbes had made sure she had her cover down pat and that the equipment was working properly before allowing her to head off. 

They'd watched her drive up to the valet parking and hand over her keys in exchange for a stub of paper then head to the guarded doorway of the club. Pretentious and upper crust was the description of this place. Given it went by the name, The Palace, it wasn't surprising. This was no party club, this was where the rich and the powerful of San Diego came to relax and often cut after hours deals that occasionally became formal later. If there was music it was probably classical and played by a live quartet. Brandy and caviar were the refreshments of choice; cigar and pipe smoking were welcome, even while cigarettes were discouraged. Because the club was designated private they skirted the California smoking law, that and some well placed grease. 

A bit of research by Eberts got them the intel that the good Doctor Geofferies had been a member for three years and came here every Friday and Saturday night like clockwork. Alyx was to not only somehow gain an introduction to him, but notice who else was here and whom he spoke to.

They listened to Alyx as she made her way through the crowd; she was posing as the adult daughter of rather rich and influential member of Hollywood's elite who had moved to the San Diego area recently. The man in question did indeed exist and was currently being investigated by the FBI, SEC, and the ATF for his less than legal business dealings. That situation made it easy to persuade him to play along on the off chance someone called to check on the legitimacy of Alyx's credentials. Madigan Dorchester, actually.

There was a sudden soft curse and then a round of profuse apologies by a male voice that got both Darien's and Hobbes' attention.

"Damn it, I am such a klutz sometimes. Are you all right?" The voice was cultured, smooth, and quite apologetic.

"Quite all right. You are most certainly not the first one to do that." Alyx responded with a light laugh. "I tend to fall well below line of sight."

"My dear, it is never all right' to pour ones drink on a creature as lovely as you are." the male voice said in what could only be a seductive tone.

"Well that didn't take long." Hobbes commented dryly. Darien just shook his head and continued staring off into the distance.

The two men then glanced at each other as the male they assumed to be Geofferies chuckled. "Yes, I'm talking about you. You're new here aren't you."

"Damn, was hoping he wouldn't notice that, but the kid is memorable." Hobbes muttered. "Let's see if she can handle this."

"Well, that depends. Do you have some awkward and embarrassing initiation for the newest members?" Alyx asked in an astonishingly light tone. Darien knew that playful tone of voice, but doubted Hobbes had ever heard it.

"No, no initiations." Geofferies responded sounding amused.

"Damn," Alyx sounded truly disappointed. "Thought you people would be fun. Guess I should go and find some real excitement."

There was the sound of movement followed by, "Any chance I could persuade you to stay?"

"I don't know..." She drew the words out, making it sound as if she was truly unwilling to stay.

"Come on, least you can do is let me buy you a drink for nearly trampling you." Geofferies voice was breathy, as if whispering almost directly into the microphone. "I'm sure I can find something to keep you amused."

Alyx chuckled warmly. "Make it two drinks and you got a deal. For an hour or so anyway."

"An hour? And what happens when my time is up? The old glass slipper routine?" Geofferies still sounded close by and based on the changing background noise they were making their way through the crowd.

Darien's eyebrows went up on the comment. It sounded like something he or Hobbes might throw out during a conversation and that Alyx would roll her eyes at. This time however, she appeared to fall for it hook, line and sinker. Emphasis on appeared.

"Must get back to my coach before it does the pumpkin bit on me. My mechanic just hates that." she countered with little effort.

"Quick too. I think this evening is beginning to look far, far more interesting." The pleased tone was obvious, like he'd come across a rare treat in what had become a weekly routine.

Darien looked over at Hobbes rather smugly. "Told ya."

"She ain't done yet, Mr. Peabody. She still has to get the info we need." Hobbes reminded Darien, whose smug look faded somewhat.

"Yeah, well, she got in, Sherman. I seem to recall someone doubting she could do that much." Darien sat up a bit straighter, his focus actually a bit more on the conversation coming out of the speaker than Hobbes reaction.

Hobbes just shook his head, not really wanting to argue about it at the moment and turned his attention back to the work at hand.

The night progressed much better than expected, by the time Alyx left over fours hours later, and not the threatened one, she had firmly established her cover identity and secured a "date" with Geofferies for the following evening. The man had spent nearly the entire night at her side, only leaving her for a span of about twenty minutes at one point, during which she was hit on by a least four other men. She'd been polite and chatted with each for a minute or two before shooing them away with unruffled feathers.

While she was essentially alone Hobbes had Darien establish contact with her and make sure things seemed to be going all right from her perspective.

Darien had passed on Hobbes' comments word for word and had gotten an annoyed; *_How about he trades places and wears the heels and garters while I eavesdrop from the ugly van?_*

The comment caused first the image of her in nothing but those items to flash through Darien's mind, quickly followed by the sudden libido-killing image of Hobbes in the exact same outfit. 

He then passed on her real info, which was enough to satisfy Hobbes for the time being. There would be a full and detailed report later anyway, and it wasn't like she was going to forget anything.

When she finally left just before two AM, with Mr. Geofferies walking her to her car, they followed her discretely back to her place.

"Good work, kid." Hobbes told her as he packed up the gear. Shutting the case and locking it, he turned towards the pair. "And a good beginning. I'll expect a full report in the morning and the tapes should be transcribed by tomorrow evening." He hefted the case and moved as if to leave. "Where is he taking you tomorrow?"

"Place called Thornton's. High end money-wise, but casual dress-wise. Rich casual that is." She paused thinking over her wardrobe. "I wonder if I can get away with the suede?"

"Kid..." Hobbes decided to not rise to the bait. "Get some sleep, I expect you to be in my office by nine AM sharp. Got it?" He eyed Darien for a second. "That goes for you too, Rip van Winkle, no sleeping in, weekend or not."

"Yes, sir!" Darien clicked his heels together smartly and snapped a salute, which Alyx spoiled by elbowing him in the gut.

"I'll be there, Bobby. You'll have to deal with him." She hooked a thumb over her shoulder at Darien who was pretending to be in far more pain that he really was from her miniscule blow.

Alyx walked Bobby to the door and he turned back to her once he had stepped into the hallway. "He's going home." It was an order and not a question.

"Yes, Bobby, he's going home in a few minutes. I promise." Alyx told him softly.

Hobbes didn't reply, just looked her in the eye, which he realized looked wrong with that color, shifted the weight of the briefcase and nodded curtly. He then headed straight to the elevator at the end of the hall.

"Good night, Bobby." Alyx called to his retreating back and got a small wave over his shoulder for her reward.

Closing and locking the door she sighed, kind of wishing she'd not felt the need to promise Darien wouldn't stay, but she was betting Hobbes was going to park around the corner and wait there till Darien left. Might even follow him home to make sure she wasn't hiding in the trunk or something. 

Darien was in the kitchen drinking from a glass and watching her carefully. Setting it down he shifted to lean on the countertop. "I have the feeling he's gonna sit out there till I leave."

Alyx grinned since she'd been thinking the same thing. She focused on Bobby for a second. "Yep, half a block down. Anyway, I promised you'd go home and get some sleep like a good boy."

"I'd much rather stay here and be late for work." Darien looked down at the counter, the fingers of one hand tracing random shapes on the dark surface.

"Really? And what would you do here? Fall asleep on the couch again?" She was smiling as she spoke; he'd done that on several occasions including last night, which is why she'd been late for work this morning; dropping him off at his place just before dawn and getting caught in traffic as she rushed home to change. Hobbes' comment about sleeping in on a weekend hadn't applied to any of their lives in about a month at this point.

Darien came out of the kitchen and stood before her. "I was thinking more along the lines of this." He wrapped one arm about her and used the other to tip her chin up just prior to finding her lips with his. Within moments both were moaning softly at each other. Darien broke away first, gulping for air and feeling a cold trickle of quicksilver down his spine.

"Damn."

"You okay, about.... About me and Geofferies?" Alyx asked with some hesitation. She didn't want to kill the mood, but she also wanted to make sure the situation wasn't bothering him, too much anyway. If he were to get upset, angry, or jealous it would affect her and this mission was making her uncomfortable enough without the addition of his emotions.

He shrugged knowing neither of them were too sure how to deal with this, yet. "Its work, right?" 

She nodded. "I'll be the first to admit that I have no idea what I'm doing. I never really dated." She looked up at him feeling a bit awkward. "This just feels wrong. I know its part of the job, but I'm not very comfortable with it."

Darien leaned against the counter and looked her over. The eyes were still a shock in that vivid green color that was so different from the bright silver he was used to. Like a million times before he suddenly found his mouth dry and his chest tight. Not for the first time he realized he was in deep ... deep something anyway. He wasn't quite sure he wanted to put a name to what he was feeling, wasn't sure he could.

"You did fine, even Hobbes thought so." Darien told her softly. "I've been wondering about a couple things."

Alyx could tell his mood had shifted, no longer wanting to discuss the technical aspects of work. He reached out and was playing with a section of her hair. "And what might they be?"

"Well," He leaned forward so that his cheek was resting alongside hers. "I been wondering exactly how you managed to hide the wire and..." His other hand curved about her waist then slipped lower to her hip. "...if you were really wearing garters."

Alyx sucked in a breath as he gently bit her earlobe; his tongue playing with the silver hoop that hung there. His hand grasped the material of her dress and began to slowly slide it up her leg.

"And if I said yes?" Darien's hand froze. "I mean where else would I attach the transmitter?" Her voice was hushed, distracted by what he was doing.

When he resumed motion he was looking her in the eyes, his hand having found the bare skin of her thigh and the evidence that she was indeed telling the truth about wearing garters. "Crap." he muttered softly as she shifted her leg, wrapping it about his to grant him better access. He glanced down noting the dark violet material and deftly released the hook that held the nylon in place. "You do realize I have a thing for purple, right?"

"Uh huh." Alyx managed, barely. His other hand had gone wandering as well and had somehow figured out how to unhook her bra through the material of her dress. She slid one hand under the untucked shirt he was wearing to run along the muscles of his abdomen. There had only been a couple occasions they'd let things get this far before and tonight she found herself not wanting to stop him, promise or no promise to Bobby.

"Damn, girl, do you have any idea..." He found himself cut off as her lips sought out his and made him completely forget what he was going to say. His lower hand slid about her leg and unhooked the other clip on the garter causing her to moan softly into his mouth. He couldn't help but notice she tasted of the expensive wine she'd been drinking all evening. A red if he wasn't mistaken.

Then his hand slipped higher to encounter the edging of delicate lace panties she wore and groaned as he lost what little control he'd been holding onto as his needs, his wants crumbled the thin ledge he'd been balanced upon. 

"Shit." he cursed as he released her and tore himself away. He stepped back completely and closed his eyes while taking slow deep breaths to get back under control. "How bad?" he asked after a moment, when he felt he was reasonably stable again, but quite sure he was still missing various portions of his anatomy, even as others were making their presence quite obviously known. He was still horny as hell and just about dying to touch her, but better, no longer flying without a pilot.

When she hadn't answered after a second or two he figured it must be bad and that she was probably trying not to laugh and embarrass him further. He opened his eyes to see her reaction only to find her gone. "Alyx?" He looked about in confusion. "Baby, where are you?"

Alyx wasn't entirely sure herself. Somewhere in there something had suddenly felt so wrong, so terrifying that'd she'd instinctively quicksilvered to hide. Her heart was pounding a mile a minute from combined terror and desire, but that wasn't what kept the quicksilver flowing and she was having a hard time convincing it to stop. "I'm here. Just gimme a sec, okay?"

Darien found this an interesting role reversal for all of a second, until the shaky, frightened sound of her voice sank in. He quicksilvered his eyes and found her standing a few steps away, the pale blue glow surrounding her proving it was her quicksilver and not his that was keeping her from sight. "Alyx, you okay?" He went to her side, but was reluctant to touch her because of the quicksilver.

She tried to shake her head no, but was assaulted with what she could only describe as vertigo, causing her to stagger back a step and the quicksilver to fall away. "I'm okay, I think." Her hand came up to rub the side of her head as the room did another dipsy-do and something flashed through her mind leaving her heart pounding and the urge to disappear back with a vengeance.

"No, you're not." Darien said in obvious concern and set a hand on her shoulder to steady her. He was surprised to find her still cold to the touch. "You don't quicksilver for no reason." Supporting her, he got her over to one of the nearby dining room chairs and seated. He noticed her dress was still rucked up revealing the deep purple of the garter straps and making him swallow hard. His worry was competing with other urges at the moment and he wasn't yet sure which would win out. 

When she shuddered at his touch, concern won and any other thoughts faded to the background.

"Sorry," Alyx convinced herself to meet his eyes and saw the true concern in them. "It wasn't you, I swear it." She blushed and bit her lip. She reached out to take one of his hands into her own and he crouched down in front of her. "I was most definitely enjoying myself." His eyes darkened noticeably at her comment.

"Oh, really?" 

She leaned forward. "Really." Then she sighed knowing that they shouldn't start up again no matter how much they both wanted to. Focusing she found Bobby was still waiting for Darien to make his exit and was working up a full head of steam over it. "However, Bobby is still being a butt-head."

Darien rolled his eyes knowing he was going to get another lecture tomorrow for this. It was worth it though, she was worth it. He might not like this sneaking about and barely having time to do more than get hot and heavy before the need for sleep attacked. Even she'd been complaining about being exhausted half the time and she only slept four or five hours a night normally. Getting in some real quality time had been impossible so far.

"I don't want to leave." He squeezed her hand, which she returned with a small smile. "Not until you're okay." he added hastily.

"I'll be fine. Some sleep." She brushed her lips across his. "Some dreams about you." He groaned, making her laugh softly.

"I'm never gonna get to sleep." He complained, even as he slid a hand up her thigh to play with the still hooked garter strap, snapping it against her skin.

She retaliated by slipping off one shoe and running her toes along his inner thigh. Just as she was about to reach her goal he grabbed the wayward metatarsals and carefully moved them away. "You're just trying to make me go see-thru again, aren't you."

Alyx shrugged. "Its oddly nice to know I can have that affect on someone." she explained in all honesty. "Been a long time for me, Dare."

He found that a bit strange, considering he knew she'd been married at the time she'd been ... recruited into the Agency. "Well get used to it. How many guys hit on you tonight?" When she blushed again he realized it had indeed been a long time for her and he couldn't for his life fathom why. "Been a long time for me too, sweets. We've no reason to hurry. And a very Hobbesian reason to take it slow. At least for tonight." 

He gave her a wolfish grin that she found herself responding to. Wanting to lay herself down, bare her throat to him and just give in to his insatiable appetite. "I ... I need to take it slow, Darien. We need to. This whole mess is so complicated and I don't want to risk ruining what we do have by jumping in too fast."

Darien found himself nodding in agreement. "Friends first?" he suggested.

"Always." Whatever had sent her head spinning had retreated and that deep sense of peace that tended to settle within her when he was near was back. He was no less confusing nor had her emotional uncertainty eased in the least, but under it all, beneath the fears and needs and wants, was this island of calm that just simply was. "For as long as you want me in your life."

For as long as he wanted her? He kept his comments to himself, as they had no part of that going slow he's just agreed to. He gave her a quick kiss, not allowing it to go any further and then got to his feet. "Time to go lead Hobbes away from here and leave you in peace. You sure you'll be okay?"

Standing, she straightened her dress and nodded. "I'm fine. Now scoot, you need the sleep, I can feel it."

Darien ducked his head. Much as he'd rather stay and play bed games with her he knew she was right. He was tired and probably would be until he got a couple days off to recuperate. Until then he'd just keep going, like they all were doing. 


	4. Chapter 4

***

December Continued

It was Darien's turn to be late, a good hour late in fact, but he actually felt like he'd almost had enough sleep the night before. Was it his fault they're been a black-out in his neighborhood, which killed his alarm? He muttered under his breath because he knew most every one would say yes, that he should have had a back up alarm or something to assure that he would be up on time.

He swung open the door to the office he shared with Hobbes to find Alyx looking over some paperwork while Hobbes typed on the keyboard. "Morning." 

"Fawkes," Hobbes glanced over at him with a look of irritation. "Forget it. Have a seat."

Darien did so without argument, as it was quite obvious that Hobbes was pissed off. "Hey, Alyx."

"Mmmm, morning." she mumbled in distraction. She was trying to absorb some updated information on her character, including the location of the apartment they had set up for her. Her backend warehouse studio just wouldn't cut it for Madigan, and the Official, through Eberts, had arranged an apartment befitting her "station." A penthouse apartment in one of the premiere high rises in town. She was going to be heading over there in a couple hours to make it look lived in and then she was going to have to do some shopping. 

She'd also had an incredibly bad night and was going to have to nap before she went out on her date. It seemed like every time she'd managed to drift off some half-seen figure would appear in her dreams and she'd find herself awake with a scream caught in her throat and covered in icy sweat. Between the lack of sleep and the irritating fact she couldn't figure out just what the hell was giving her nightmares, she was not firing on all cylinders.

"Well, try and curb your enthusiasm. You might hurt yourself." Darien snarked as he flopped down into the only other chair, the really uncomfortable one. "Anything new, Hobbes?"

"I wish. Nah,just more dead ends. The kid here got us something to work with, but it'll take time." He glanced at his watch. "Kid..."

"I know. Meeting with the Official." She slipped the papers back into their file and got to her feet. "Come on you two, I ain't going in there alone."

Hobbes actually chuckled. "Need him alive to sign the requisitions."

"And paychecks." Darien added wondering why he had bothered to sit down if he was just going to have to get back up.

Alyx shrugged "GS eight ain't all that much, but I manage."

Both guys stopped dead. "You ... you make a GS eight?" Hobbes all but squealed. He rubbed the top of his head and tried to put enough words together to make a coherent sentence. "You ... He ... GS six ... Me ... I'm gonna hurt him." The last came out as a growl of exasperation.

Alyx continued down the hall, but turned so that she was walking backwards and could see both men. "I wanted a twelve. My clearance level rates me for that. He wanted a five. We compromised. Sides I think he owes me after screwing up my life." She turned the corner then and the pair scrambled to catch up with her.

A few minutes later they were standing before the Official who was holding what appeared to be Alyx's report on the prior evening in his hand.

"A good beginning. Keep it up. Use whatever methods are necessary. Maybe he talks in his sleep." He set down the file and noticed the sudden cold look on her face. 

"Excuse me?" Alyx asked in a tight voice. "Are you suggesting I sleep with Dr. Geofferies to get the information we need?"

"I am suggesting nothing. I am telling you to do your job and if that means _sleeping_ with Geofferies then you **will** do it." The Official explained in a flat tone.

"Oh, crap." Darien commented very softly. He knew the Fish's orders had gone over like a pair of cement shoes worn by a mob informant just before his very last swimming lesson. 

"I am not whoring myself for this agency." Alyx hissed the words at him.

"Kid..." Hobbes tried to intervene.

She rounded on him, raising her hand. "Not a single word, Hobbes, as far as I am concerned playing escort service for the fat bastard is bad enough." Her focus swung to the fat bastard in question. "You want to hear what Geofferies says in bed? You sleep with him." With that she turned on her heels and stormed out of the room, slamming the door behind her. Thankfully it was the wooden one; the glass one would have shattered.

"Hobbes." The Official barked, his temper obviously up. "Explain to her the realities of the situation. Since she has refused to get the information through direct means this is the only option. And she will do it."

"Sir, that might not..." Hobbes tried, but the Official ran over the top of him.

"No, damn it," He slammed a fist into the desktop. "Straighten her out, or you'll be the one sleeping with Geofferies, Hobbes."

"You son of a bitch." Darien snarled in a low voice and was impressed by the shocked look on the Official's face when he snapped his attention onto Darien. "You know damn well what backing her into a corner will do. She won't let you manipulate her and neither will I."

He ignored the look Hobbes leveled at him. Darien didn't care if he gave the whole game away, helping Alyx keep some of her dignity was all that mattered at the moment.

"Fawkes I would suggest you stay out of this." The Official warned in a cold voice. "Or you may find there is a sudden lack of funding for counteragent."

Darien was about to go after the gloating fat man when Hobbes grabbed him by the arm and dragged him from the room by force. "Damn it, Hobbes, why the hell did you do that?"

"Because, you idiot, for once the chief wasn't kidding. One more word and you'd have found yourself on a free trip to the padded room complete with the fancy wrap-around robe." Hobbes explained even as Darien remained tense and angry as hell.

"She won't do it, Bobby. She'd walk out the door and never look back once if he tries to force her into it. And you know it." Darien flung out his arm and pointed down the hallway in emphasis.

"I know, Fawkes." Hobbes scrubbed his face with his hands. "But I also know he would stoop low enough to blackmail her with you." He had trouble meeting the shocked eyes of his friend. "Look, you go say hi' to the Keepy and cool down for a bit. I'll talk to the kid." Before Darien could say a word he added. "Kid gloves, my friend. I have no interest in getting my ass fried cause she's in a bad mood." 

It took Darien a couple more minutes to cool down enough to respond, but when he did it was with a heavy sigh. "We just got her back, Bobby, I don't want her running again."

"Me either, Fawkes, but there ain't a hell of a lot keeping her here." Hobbes admitted much to Darien's surprise. "Go on. You being in a mood won't get her cooled down any faster. Even I've figured out that much." He gave Darien a shove to get him moving and watched until he'd rounded the corner headed for the stairwell. Now Hobbes just had to figure out where the kid might go. After a moment he headed for the opposite stairwell, but instead of down to the basement level where the various labs were located, including the Keep, he headed up.

Exiting on the roof he looked about for Alyx and eventually found her sitting on the knee-high lip that edged the roof looking west out over the city.

Alyx waited until Bobby was a few feet behind her and within earshot even with the noise of the city drifting up to their level. "I won't do it, Hobbes. I ain't gonna sleep with Geofferies just cause y'all think its part of the job." The drawl she'd picked up from years of living deep in the southeast made an appearance and she didn't feel like putting in the effort to prevent it.

"I got that impression, kid." Hobbes sat down beside her, keeping about a foot between them. He dangled his legs over the side of the building while she sat cross-legged with her hands draped across her thighs. She looked tired even to him. "Look, and don't hurt me for saying this, but it is just part of the job. I've done it plenty of times during my career. Why else would Bobby Hobbes be so damn good with the ladies? Bobby Hobbes knows exactly how to get what he wants when he wants it."

Alyx didn't even crack a smile. "Bobby, I won't sleep with Geofferies. I ... I can't." She turned slightly to see his face in profile, looking down at the people passing by on the sidewalk below. "I've _slept _with exactly one person in my life. I'm not about to have a job be where I pick it up again." If Hobbes had any reaction to her statement he made sure not to show it. 

"Then what, kid? Most guys ain't that patient." He did turn to look at her then, meeting her eyes that were once again their proper quicksilver color. "Why not just grab the info like the chief wanted you to?"

Alyx sighed heavily. "All of you think it's so damn easy. Just go poking in the guy's head and pull out what I want. Well it ain't. In fact if I'm not careful it causes a lot of pain for both myself and the person I'm doing it to." She rubbed the bridge of her nose with her hand. "Like what I did to Heilberg, I forced my way in, dug around for what I wanted and yanked it out. Nothing nice or neat about it. It's kinda like..."

"Rape." Hobbes stated in a hushed voice and Alyx paled slightly before nodding in agreement. "So what is your plan? You did agree to this ... this alternate method."

"Because I can get the info, if given a few days." She turned, hanging one leg on either side of the edge. "Being around a person lets me get a handle on how their mind works, allowing me to slip in unnoticed and, with the right questions or comments, the answers will drift to the surface where I can get at them without him the wiser."

"Subtle instead of brash. How long kid? We can't drag this out weeks, ya know." Hobbes caught on fast and could see how this would work out better than going in and just ripping the info from the guy's mind.

"If things go like I think they will tonight I should have a pretty good handle on his mind, might even get some prelim intel. Say, two more meetings at the most." Alyx answered after a moment to think about it.

"You gonna play coy that long?" Hobbes asked more to make her think about the reality of the situation than anything else.

Alyx shook her head. "I'm no fool, but I'm still not gonna whore myself for the fat man."

"Kid, if you can get the job done without having to do that more power to ya. But the day may come..."

She cut him off. "Yeah, it may, but not today."

Hobbes swung his legs around and stood up. "Take the time you need to cool down, I'll tell the chief I set you straight. Might as well let him think he won or he'll just be a bigger pain in the ass to deal with."

"He threatened Darien, didn't he?" Alyx had turned back around and was looking out over the cityscape laid out before her.

"Yeah, kid. Just be careful. You may have a deal with him, but he's the best when it comes to underhanded manipulation." Hobbes didn't wait for an answer, she listened to his feet crunch on the gravel of the roof as he crossed to the expanse followed by the sound of the door creaking open and thudding shut. Even it needed to be repaired, much like most of the things in her life these days.

Darien was sitting on the exam chair one leg drawn up to his chest while he fumed and allowed Claire to draw a blood sample and check his monitor without a single complaint about it. Once she had marked the vial of blood and set it in the cooler she broached the subject of his bad mood.

"Darien, is there something you wish to talk about?"

"Bitch about, yeah. There's nothing to really talk about." He tossed the cotton ball he'd been he'd holding in place at the biohazard can and Claire got it open with a foot on the pedal just in time.

"You don't need counteragent for several days yet and your current mission shouldn't require it. Yet you've used more quicksilver than you should have. Care to explain?" Claire had gone into full-blown Keeper mode and Darien was not in the mood for it. Another lecture on the way things run around here was not something he wanted to be reminded of.

"You too? Like the fat man's threat of cutting off the counteragent wasn't bad enough. Shit happens, Claire. The gland has a mind of its own sometimes and I get the fricking lecture." He slipped off the chair and grabbed his jacket off the back of it. "Next time don't offer to listen unless you actually mean it." He didn't let the look of shock and hurt that crossed her face stop him and was out the door a moment later. 

He ran into Hobbes on the first floor as he walked the building trying to make some sense of the whole thing. "How's Alyx?"

Hobbes shrugged. "Good enough. We're on the same page for this one. Now you, on the other hand, still look like you're about to strangle the Official if he blinks funny. Take the kid to lunch or something. I'll get the tapes finished up and we'll meet back here before she heads to the penthouse." He looked up at Fawkes who had somehow managed to slouch off about six inches in height.

"You sure?" Darien asked with only the faintest trace of hope in his voice.

"Yep. Go, before you brood yourself bald." Hobbes said, solely for the reaction he knew he'd get.

Darien's hands flew to his hair even as Hobbes began to chuckle. "Hobbes, don't say things like that."

"Go on, Fawkes. She's probably still on the roof. And if anyone can, you'd be the one to talk her down." Hobbes turned and swaggered down the hall hoping to steal a few minutes from Claire to discuss his pair of partners. He knocked on the door; still not having a key of his own and it slid open a second later. "Keep, you got a sec?"

"Yes, Bobby. This is about Darien, isn't it." Claire set down the file she was holding and rotated the chair about to focus on Bobby.

"Yeah, him and the kid."

Alyx glared at the speaker spitting out the horrible musak in the elevator. The fancy security down in the lobby of the building had called up to let her know Geofferies had arrived to pick her up for their dinner right on time. Sad to say she was starved. Instead of lunch she and Darien had run by her place to pick up a few items before heading to the penthouse apartment where Alyx had decreed naptime, as she was completely exhausted by that point. Darien had offered to leave, but she had asked him to stay, wanting the comfort of his company to hopefully hold the nightmares at bay and allow her some actual sleep.

It worked and she had woken up in plenty of time to shower and get all gussied up for her evening at Thornton's. With Darien's help she chose an outfit that fit the "rich casual" bill. Dark brown silk shirt and black dress slacks over a pair of low heeled boots. Over that was a cinnamon colored suede jacket. A necessity, as the evenings were quite cool this time of year. Her hair chose to cooperate and was pulled back into a French braid that hung over one shoulder, a bright contrast to the deep rich red-brown of the jacket.

When Bobby arrived with the equipment she had already put the contacts in and he did a double take when he saw her. Once he approved her positioning of the wire was secure and invisible he drew her aside into the huge kitchen in the apartment. There he handed her a small item that she took a bit gingerly. Untangling it she was quick to realize it was a butterfly knife in an adjustable leg sheath.

His words had been simple and to the point. "Just in case, kid."

She hadn't argued and had, in fact, asked him politely for lessons in its use, if he had the time. For all that he still had this seemingly huge dislike for her, she understood this was his way of trying to make peace and mend fences that hopefully weren't shattered beyond repair. After a quick lesson on the basics, he helped her attach the sheath to her calf and hide it in the top of the boot under her pant leg. Surprisingly it did ease some of the underlying worry and fear that had been lingering in the back of her mind.

Then he and Darien had left to wait in the van until Geofferies showed up. He'd called earlier in the day to confirm and get the address of her place as the night before it had remained undecided whether they would meet there or go together. Once she had the penthouse she felt safe enough to allow him to pick her up.

The doors parted just as she was seriously debating frying the speaker to shut off the awful rendition of a Barry Manilow song she was trying to not put a name to. She found Geofferies standing by one of the glass windows, forgoing the reasonably comfortable sitting area to watch the traffic drive slowly by on the darkened street. He was dressed in dark brown Dockers and a white dress shirt; the matching sport coat was casually flung over one shoulder.

"Good evening, Dr. Geofferies." Alyx called out as she approached him.

He turned and gave her a brilliant smile, his blue eyes drifting across her through the glasses as she stopped just a couple feet away. "Kirkland, please. Just not K. C., far too many K. C. and the Sunshine Band jokes over the years."

"Agreed. Did everything go all right at work today?" she asked as he came to stand before her. He had explained last night that he usually worked on the weekends because there were fewer people about, but hadn't been very specific as to what he did for a living. In fact, Novadyne had never been mentioned.

He shrugged and then slipped into his coat. "Lets not talk about work." He offered her his arm and she looped hers through with a smile.

"Not discuss work? What on earth will we talk about?" she tossed off in a flippant tone.

Kirkland leaned down a bit, he stood right around six feet tall so, even with heels, he towered nearly a foot over her. He didn't seem to mind though. "I'm sure we can find something far more stimulating to discuss." he whispered in her ear making her shiver. He opened the door to the building and escorted her out and down the street to where his black BMW was parked. Within moments they were on their way.

The evening went pretty much as planned. Alyx – Madigan – used to moving about in circles where a casual dinner would cost several hundred dollars relaxed and enjoyed herself in the intimate surroundings. It was made plain when the maitre d greeted Kirkland by name that he was regular here and because she was here as his guest she was deferred to as well. Apparently it was a rarity for the good doctor to bring company, especially female company.

Over the course of the excellent meal, followed by a dessert she would have loved to have begged the recipe from the chef, but refrained as it would not be appropriate, they slowly moved closer to one another. By the time the bill appeared, around midnight, they were sitting side by side with Kirkland's arm draped casually about her shoulders. They had managed to fill the evening with quiet talk about their lives without going into any real depth. He seemed to take her at face value and, on the surface, she did the same. Underneath the smiling and relaxed persona Alyx was busily getting a handle on how his mind worked and making inroads on gleaning information beyond the surface thoughts and emotions that were so easy for her to capture and which told her very little.

Leaving the restaurant they went for a stroll in the small park that was just across the street. They spent and hour wandering the decorative pathways, some of which were lined with fragrant night blooming flowers that were oblivious to the chilly December weather and releasing their scent onto the light breeze. Once they had completed the roundabout circle and returned to their starting point, Kirkland decreed it was time to take her home.

Alyx agreed to his offer of walking her to her door, given the late hour and the potential for harm against one so lovely, or so he had commented in hopes of persuading her. She had laughingly agreed, his gallantry amusing in this day and age.

Standing there with the door to the penthouse open she debated the merits of inviting him in to get more information versus seeming too forward and risking him getting the impression she wanted him to stay for the night. He solved the problem for her.

"I'm beginning to be very glad I nearly trampled you last night." Kirkland leaned against the wall next to her door watching her. 

"That's me, always underfoot." she responded with a smile. 

"Under foot' is not where I'd like to have you right now." His hand came up to caress her face and she sighed, her eyes drifting shut for a moment. 

They flew open when she felt his lips brush along hers and, fool that she was, she stiffened in reaction.

"Hmmm, too soon, I'm guessing." His voice was soft, but unhurt and his fingers were still playing with a stray curl they had found by her ear.

"Well, of course." She looked down at her wrist, observing a watch she wasn't wearing. "It'll be another fifteen minutes till I'm ready for the first kiss. Men, you're always so impatient." Alyx grinned at him hoping like hell that she'd covered her scrawny ass on that one.

He chuckled warmly and drew her closer. This time she was prepared for the kiss and responded with as much faked enthusiasm as she could muster. It must have gone over quite well because when he pulled himself away a moment later his eyes had gone dark with desire.

"Sweet," he muttered softly. "Like berries." Then he dove in again, a bit more demanding this time, his tongue trailing along her lips until she opened to him. She didn't think, just allowed herself to react and respond to what he was doing. He was quite good at it, she had to admit and part of her didn't mind in the least, but another part of her was paying very close attention.

With his mind fully absorbed in making the most of the moment, Alyx found he was quite open mentally and slipped into his mind with nary a twinge on either of their parts. He was still far too new a presence for her to comprehend completely, but he was also a very logical creature and with very few subtle promptings she was able to find her way to the information she wanted.

Only to encounter one very thick, very stubborn wall keeping her away from her goal. The good Dr. Geofferies was hiding something; something big and it definitely involved Novadyne and his work there. Risking his awareness of what she was doing she pushed a bit harder and was rewarded with an image of the lab that had been destroyed, but in his mind it was still pristine and undamaged even after the accident.

Alyx snapped back to awareness as Kirkland broke off the kiss with a groan. "Damn, you are a sweet thing."

"Sorry, I can change that if you'd like." she offered in a voice that was surprisingly husky. She was even more shocked at the fact she was more than a little aroused.

"Oh, no. Don't you dare." He stole another kiss from her and cupped her face gently. "I have to work late tomorrow, running some tests, but, if you're willing to drive up to Miramar we could meet for a late lunch."

"I'd like that." Alyx answered allowing herself to relax in his gentle hold. 

He released her a moment later and dug in his pocket and came up with a business card and a pen. He scrawled on the back of the card and handed it to her. "Three o'clock. Its a little hole in the wall place, but the food is amazing. A bunch of us head there between tests so I hope you can handle a room full of geeks talking their trade while eating Buffalo wings."

"I think I'll manage." she responded lightly. Taking a chance she brought up one hand to rest against his abdomen, the muscles tightening reflexively.

"And I had better go." He took her hand and kissed the palm before releasing it. "Good night, Maddy." He pushed her door wide open and waited for her to enter.

"Good night, Kirkland." She gave him a smile and shut the door, locking it softly. She focused on him and felt him move down the hall feeling more than bit pleased with himself and how the night had gone. There was a hint of something, like she was going to be of use to him, but it flitted away before she could grasp it. Once she was certain he was on his way out of the building she spoke aloud. "He's on his way out. I'll see you two in fifteen." 


	5. Chapter 5

***

December Continued

Darien watched in amusement as Alyx yawned for the third time since Eberts had begun questioning her about her report while the Official glared at her. She had decided to be suddenly very deaf every time the Official opened his mouth, even some very loudly yelled and frightening threats had done nothing to gain her attention. So Eberts had taken over for the moment and he was wavering between admonishment for her inappropriate behavior and fear that the Fish was going to take it out on him. 

His own report had been fairly short and to the point, there wasn't a whole lot to say. He and Hobbes had sat in the van listening in on and recording the conversation Alyx and Geofferies had had last night, including the scene in the hallway where they'd gotten to know each other a bit better. Darien had been all business last night after the good doctor had left, part of him unreasonably jealous even though he knew better.

Alyx had accepted it without comment. Handing over the wire and giving Bobby the preliminary information she'd been able to get from Geofferies as well as confirming the lunch meeting later on Sunday. She was hoping that by being in more of a work atmosphere he would give up more of the information she was looking for with little effort on her part. But she freely admitted that there was something odd going on. Almost like there were two Kirkland Geofferies, which she said wasn't that unusual. Many people had different persona depending on the situation, however there was usually overlap and not the clear delineation that she felt in Geofferies. 

She had hoped that by staying at the penthouse the dreams wouldn't follow her, but she'd hadn't been that lucky and she found herself tossing and turning, waking every hour or so bathed in a cold sweat and fear a hard lump in her throat.

Listening to Eberts she rubbed the side of her head and sat up a bit straighter, trying to convince herself she was awake and ready to face another day of work.

"You mentioned something about the lab at Novadyne. Your description is too vague to make any sense I'm afraid." Eberts commented, as he looked over the page in question.

"Sorry, vague impressions translate into vague descriptions." Alyx tapped the arm of the chair with one finger. "I know you said checking out the lab was useless, but I think the guys should anyway."

"Us? Why not you? You could probably get the grand tour if you batted those eyelashes at the right moment." The irritation in Darien's voice was obvious to everyone in the room. 

"Because, the place clears out in between the tests. Geofferies and most everyone else is going to be at lunch." She turned about to look at Darien. "The one I've been invited to."

That earned her a growl of pure frustration.

"Anything in particular, kid?" Hobbes asked.

She shook her head. "I got the impression that the lab either isn't nearly as damaged as the reports implied or maybe not damaged at all." She tipped her head and went over the memory to be sure. "Its possible that's how he wishes it was. Hopes and fantasies can feel just as real as the truth and I can't always discern the difference."

"But its worth checking out." The Official stated in an attempt to wrestle control back from Alyx.

She ignored him and got to her feet. "Bobby, I'll be down in the Keep. I need to speak with Claire for a minute."

"Okay, kid. My office in half an hour." When she nodded he turned back to the Official and they all heard the door shut quietly a few seconds later.

"I'd say she's still a bit pissed off." Darien had no problems shoving the reality of the situation right up the fat bastard's face. He was still upset over the Official's callous attitude from yesterday.

The Official surprised them by chuckling softly. "So would I. Still, she got the info we need. The two of you will get into the lab while it's relatively empty." He looked from one man to the other. "Eberts, see about getting them in the door using legit credentials."

"Yes, sir. I should have that ready in about an hour." Eberts answered after a moment to consider what the job would entail.

"Good. Fawkes check in with the Keeper and make sure you're in place to move on time." the Official made it clear that was their dismissal and both men got to their feet and left the office.

"Fawkes, my office when you're done in the Keep." Hobbes told Darien in a rather gruff tome making him wonder what he'd gone and done wrong this time.

"Hobbes, problem?" Darien asked hurriedly as Hobbes was making his escape.

"Not yet, Fawkes. Now get moving." Hobbes turned the corner cutting off any chance for a reply.

Darien debating going after Hobbes but decided against it, he'd been in an odd mood since yesterday and had refused to discuss it. Strolling casually in hopes of avoiding Alyx for the time being he instead met up with her in the hall down from the Keep. She'd just turned the corner and nearly ran into him. 

"Sorry." she mumbled and tried to skirt about him just as he tried to do the same and they ended up spending a couple of minutes doing that dance as they tried to get past one another. 

Finally Darien set his hands on her shoulders to stop her. "Alyx, you've been dodging me all morning. What's up?"

She snorted. "Dodging you? Jeeze, you've been screaming pissed off to my senses ever since last night. Damn straight I stayed out of your way." She tried to shrug out of his light hold, but he tightened down his fingers and kept her in place.

"Okay, so I don't handle the you kissing other guys thing too well." Checking the hallway in both directions he drew her back into a nearby doorway of an empty office. "I'm sorry."

And he really was, she could feel it, but underneath was this possessiveness that made her feel icy inside. "Well, stop it. I'm having enough trouble screwing with Geofferies' head without having you mucking up mine. And its not like I have a whole lot of choices these days."

He grumbled mostly to himself. "Its just work."

"Damn straight its just work." She stepped back sensing Claire was standing just around the corner and that she knew the two of them were there. "Look, this is not the place to discuss this..."

"Good enough as any." Darien argued and pulled her closer, one hand coming up to curve about her neck. "I'll behave, just tell me you're not mad."

She sighed. "You can be such an annoying thing, you know that?" 

"Persistent too." he commented with a grin. "And you wouldn't have it any other way."

Alyx flinched in reaction to those words, deja vu hitting her hard enough to cause a physical reaction. 

"Hey, easy there." Darien steadied her as her knees debated the merits of forgoing their duty to hold her upright. "You all right?"

She shook her head to clear it. "Fine."

Claire stepped around the corner then, noting the concern in Darien's entire posture, the familiar way he touched Alyx, and the closeness between them. It appeared Bobby was right, they were getting involved on far more than a platonic level. 

Alyx's head turned to meet Claire's gaze and the challenge in them was plain. Daring her to say one word in reprimand or admonishment, daring her to deny this had been the plan from the start.

"So it is more than just some insomnia." Claire said, moving to them. She made a point of saying nothing about the fact that Darien was still standing there holding onto Alyx and looking all protective and worried.

"Just ... weirdness is all. Like flashes of memory, just really strong and sudden." Alyx admitted. "Not all that clear though, like the dreams. The pictures are still fuzzy."

Claire nodded. "All right, but if they begin causing serious problems don't wait to come to me." Alyx nodded in agreement and Claire turned her attention to the tall man behind the tiny woman with one arm wrapped protectively about her. "You."

"Me?"

"Into the Keep with you. The Official wants me to clear you for a mission. Something about a full tank." She shook her head. "You Americans and your euphemisms."

"Full tank? Oh." Darien held out his right wrist, the sleeve pulling back enough to show his monitor was at half red and that he would need a shot before going invisible for a mission. Knowing the way things usually went for them, he'd need another one after as well.

"Why didn't he just say you needed counteragent?" Claire complained softly. She waved for Darien to precede her and he reluctantly released Alyx. "She'll be fine." Claire told him as they turned the corner "And she needs to prep for the mission anyway. You should trust her more, Darien."

He slid his mag-key through the slot and stepped through the doorway as soon as it was open enough. "I do, its just..." He stopped himself realizing he was damn near to spilling the beans about him and Alyx.

"You two have grown closer." Claire attempted to keep the comment off-handed and light as she walked to the cooler with the counteragent. Behind her she could hear Darien sliding onto the exam chair.

"I guess. We hang out after work sometimes." He was staring at his hands, which lay in his lap.

"So it's just friendship." Claire asked as she set down the syringe and lifted the rubber tourniquet. He shifted his arm and she wrapped it about his biceps.

"Yeah, friends." He turned his head to look at her. "You say that as if it's a bad thing." 

She tapped the vein to get it to stand up for her and then injected the bright blue liquid into his system. "No, one can never have too many friends. I was just wondering if you'd ever consider becoming more than friends."

Darien waited until the large needle had been removed from his flesh before answering. "Would that matter? Company pier and all."

Claire removed the tubing and turned away to dispose of the items properly. "And since when have you been one to follow the rules?" she asked. When she glanced over her shoulder at him a moment later he was once again looking down at his hands.

"Never." 

Alyx stood outside the entrance to Logan's Bar and Grill and grinned. Geofferies hadn't been kidding when he said it was a hole in the wall place. Stuffed as it was between an electronics repair store and a "antique shop" on the barely two-lane road of the no name town just north-east Miramar Marine Corps Air Station, but not part of Mira Mesa proper.

At one time it might have be the civilian town that had sprung up to cater to the nearby military personnel, but had long since seen its custom move further away. There were still homes in the area, enough to support the local businesses, and the small but powerful Novadyne that had chosen the empty desert nearby as the perfect place to set up shop. The locals didn't really care where the business came from so long as there was money flowing through the town.

Swinging open the door she stepped inside and allowed a second for her eyes to adjust to the dim interior. Today she was dressed far more simply. Jeans, dark green T-shirt and a black cardigan that hung unbuttoned and open to reveal what she wore to others. One of the waitresses wandered over and directed her to the back where a fairly large group of men and women were sitting and talking rather loudly.

Stopping behind the group she waited for Geofferies, who she had spotted immediately, to notice she was there. It was the dark haired gentleman next to him who noticed her first and elbowed Kirkland rather forcefully to break him out of the detailed description he was reciting about some facet of the day's work.

When his eyes locked on hers, he grinned a bit sheepishly and the catcalls began. Sliding out of the booth, shoving several others out of the way to do so, he went to Alyx and apologized. As she allowed him to seat her in the booth, between him and another gentleman she reached out to contact Darien.

*You have a go.* 


	6. Chapter 6

***

December Continued

"Alyx says we have a go." Darien told Hobbes who sat slumped in the driver's seat taking advantage of the wait time to relax and conserve some energy.

"Finally." Hobbes muttered as he sat up straight and started the van. He pulled back onto the road, kicking dust up into the air. They had parked just a few miles from Novadyne, just at the limit of Alyx's best range. Once inside Novadyne communicating with her would be nearly impossible. Today she wasn't wearing a wire at all, with so many about in such potentially close quarters it was too risky so they'd nixed it. They were going to hope Alyx would be able to get a warning out to them as the lunch broke up and the scientists and techs headed back to work earlier than they had planned for.

Hobbes drove up to the main gate and pulled to a stop at the elaborate guard shack. He pulled the papers Eberts had handed to him out of an inner pocket and waved them at the pair that appeared. One took the papers back into the shack while the other watched them warily with a hand resting on the butt of his gun.

Mook number one returned, scrawling something on the paperwork. "You're cleared. Your escort will meet you in the lobby." 

"Thanks." Hobbes responded and pulled forward as the gates swung ponderously open. "Well, Eberts must have pulled the right strings."

"Or twisted the right arms." Darien added with a hint of a grin that fell completely flat. "All right Hobbes, spill. What is your problem today?"

"Ain't got one, yet. I'd like to keep it that way." Hobbes pulled into a parking spot reserved for visitors and turned the engine off. He was out the door before Darien had a chance to really react. "Move it, partner."

"Oh, yeah, right." Darien climbed out, slamming the door shut in utter bewilderment as to why Hobbes was so pissed off at him. Darien trailed after Hobbes' stiff back and into the cool lobby of Novadyne Systems Incorporated. Blue was the predominant color, a calming cool blue that Darien found unnerving because it did nothing but remind him of counteragent and all the fun that went along with it.

"Gentlemen." A tall, thin brunette in a white lab coat and stylish glasses stepped before them. Hobbes noted the nametag had only a code number on it no name and no picture, which was very odd in a place as security conscious as this one. "If you will follow me, I'll escort you to Lab 536A." 

"That'll work just fine Miss..." Hobbes left the sentence hanging in hopes she would fill in, but she didn't bite.

She kept the pace brisk and made a point to ignore their attempts to start a conversation or pry information of any sort out of her. But for all her silence she was still giving away hints to Hobbes. Once on the fifth floor she led them through a maze of hallways and to door that still had the remains police investigation tape on it. 

Inside Hobbes gave the place the once over noting it was pretty well destroyed, shattered glass and burned equipment pretty much everywhere.

"Thanks for the escort." Hobbes said in obvious dismissal. When she tried to protest he waved at the cameras -- the active and functional cameras -- in the high corners of the room. "We'll give ya a wave when we're done."

"Yeah," Darien agreed following Hobbes' lead. "We'll get done faster without you looking over our shoulders." He looked over at her, her stern, tight-lipped expression reminding him of a Sunday school teacher he'd had when young. She, the Sunday school teacher, had been retired military and ran those early morning classes like a drill sergeant. 

Miss lab coat huffed, but turned on her heel sharply and left the room, leaving the door open about halfway as she did so.

Hobbes shook his head. "Not a happy camper."

"And wanting no part of us being here." Darien looked over the room. It was well trashed to say the least. Glass crunched underfoot, there were nameless stains from unknown chemicals and dark brown smears that might be all that was left of the two victims, the computers were useless from what he could tell; the monitors shattered and the computers themselves blackened husks from the looks of it.

He walked over to one was still lying under the desk and poked at it, the casing shifting to reveal the interior.

"Uh, Hobbes, isn't there supposed to be like wires and circuit boards and stuff inside this thing?"

"Usually." Hobbes answered sounding more than a bit distracted.

Darien straightened and walked over to his partner, lowering his voice he asked, "Whatcha see, Hobbesy?"

"You tell me, Fawkes. Look at the room, really look at it, and tell me what _you _see." Hobbes directed in an undertone.

Darien did, giving the place the casual yet detailed once over that only one trained in casing places in record time could. It might not be the exact same observational skills as taught to real agents, but it served just as well. It took a few minutes to see it, to see what Hobbes must have spotted al most immediately, but once noticed it was unmistakable.

"Its superficial." Darien moved over to one of the lab benches and shifted a few items. The stuff on the surface was broken, but the table itself was almost unharmed. It was a good bet that once the mess was cleaned up they could slap on a new coat of paint and have the place back in use in a day.

Hobbes only nodded.

"So what's that mean?" Darien tossed the piece of glass tubing he'd picked up onto the floor to shatter amongst is brethren.

"It means the kid might very well be right." Hobbes glanced up at on of the cameras. "I'm thinking a little recon might be in order."

"Maybe get a little lost on the way out?" Darien contained the grin and did his best to make it appear he was still looking over the room for clues, same as umpteen other investigators had.

"Yeah, lost right into Lab 348. Our friend's current residence." Hobbes responded.

Darien nodded. This was gonna be a little tricky, trying to find the blind spot in the cameras' sweeps. He wandered the room seemingly aimlessly until he found the sweet spot and let the quicksilver flow.

"Keep in contact there, my friend." Hobbes muttered into the mic he wore even as he did his best to draw the attention of those watching the cameras to him and away from the partially open door just in case Fawkes had trouble slipping out the space provided. The door didn't even budge

Darien strolled down the hallway, watching for security to come running once they realized that he was gone from the lab, leaving Hobbes alone to face their wrath. The place was pretty empty; just like Alyx had told them it would be through Geofferies. He was heading towards the stairwell, not wanting to get caught in the elevator invisible, when a lab number just around the corner from 536A caught his eye. Ducking down the hall he noted the rather elaborate lock for the door. "Hobbes."

"Yeah, Fawkes?" Hobbes sounded irritated.

"What do you know about Lab 536B?" 

Thirty minutes later they were back in Golda driving to meet Alyx once her lunch with Geofferies ended. About the time security had started to search for Darien, which he covered by ducking into the bathroom and reappearing inside and wandering back out in to the hall with still damp hands. He was hustled by two burly guys with crew cuts to where Hobbes was arguing with Miss Stern-face from earlier and two males in lab coats that were pushed aside to reveal fair sized guns.

Though Hobbes grumbled, grouched, complained and threatened they were still escorted from the building and told, point blank, to not return without a warrant.

"What're they hiding, Hobbes?"

"Good question, Fawkes. Good fricking question." Hobbes tapped the steering wheel in irritation. "They certainly gave us the bum's rush out the door."

"That they did. You trying to yank their chains didn't help much." Darien commented in amusement. Hobbes had been well off the deep end during that exchange.

"Had to Fawkes, couldn't let then think we were on to them." Hobbes turned to meet Darien's suddenly confused gaze. "Come on, do you think we'd have gotten out so easy if they thought we actually knew something?"

As those words sank in Darien's heart dropped to somewhere in the vicinity of his feet. "You don't think..."

"The kid is fine, for now." Hobbes said to ease Darien's mind. "This ain't some cake walk ya know."

"Don't remind me. Why would guys in lab coats need guns? Unless..." Darien trailed off not really wanting to think too deeply about that possibility.

"What, Fawkes?" Hobbes knew that worried look.

"Just ... It reminds of the lab. Kevin, Arnaud and everything." Darien explained in an emotion roughened voice. 

"I bet it does. Fawkes, those weren't no terrorists. Doubt they were lab techs, but they weren't no terrorists." Hobbes pulled into a parking space a couple blocks down from where Alyx was having her lunch date. It was looking like things were well timed. Bunch of guys dressed in modified geek were flowing out of the restaurant and heading for a variety of late model cars parked all along the street.

A group of about six gathered on the sidewalk outside the door apparently deep in discussion, but they broke up moments later leaving just two people standing their, both of whom Darien recognized. His jaw clenched in anger as Geofferies curled a hand about Alyx's neck and leaned in for a kiss to which Alyx seemed to participate in full.

"Fawkes, cool it. She's doing the job." Hobbes hissed as Darien clenched his hands tight enough to turn the knuckles white.

"I know that." Darien snapped in complete frustration. "Don't mean I have to like it one bit. And I damn well know she doesn't."

Hobbes eyed his partner warily. "You okay there? Not heading to the danger zone or nothing?" 

"I'm fine." Darien huffed and slouched down in his seat. In truth he didn't want to check, didn't want to find out he had pushed his luck again. He didn't yet have even a hint of headache so he wasn't too worried about it. 

"Looks like the party is breaking up." Hobbes nodded at the pair who were separating; Geofferies heading to his car while Alyx looked on, giving him a wave as he drove slowly by and seconds later past the van heading back to Novadyne. "Think you can give her the heads up to our location?"

"She knows." Darien turned his head to look out the passenger window. "Says she wants to meet at her place." Darien blinked a couple times and refocused on the world before him. He'd never get used to this, or how she managed to talk mind to mind and do other things at the same time. "That work for you?"

Hobbes started the engine. "Good enough." He pulled the van onto the road headed the wrong direction, not wanting to risk her being connected with the two of them as a precaution. By the time they had turned around and back through the town her car was gone.

Lunch was an interesting experience and she quickly learned you could take the scientist geeks out of the office, but you can't take the office out of the scientist geeks. The waitress made sure there were pads of paper floating about to keep the guys from writing on the napkins, but it didn't always help as they would often grab the nearest paper-like thing and scribble away.

She sat squished in between Geofferies and another fellow named Jamie Graves who looked her over and then at Geofferies and gave him a thumbs up and big old grin. He received a smack in the back of the head from the next guy down for his trouble.

After the initial discomfort and introductions, the nearly two dozen men, who'd taken over several tables and booths in the back of the restaurant, dove right back into their discussion. At one point Kirkland began to explain what they were working on in vague terms, but Alyx had surprised all of them by making an observation that sent several scrambling for more paper.

From there on the atmosphere from most loosened up considerably, but there were four of them who registered as very wary, and very concerned about her presence. To her senses they came across as markedly different from the rest even though they did the geek thing perfectly, getting excited over trivialities, and taking odd little turns into other subjects that would often circle around back to where they had started.

Alyx loved it. While not the field she had studied many years ago, the feel of it was the same. The energy, the enthusiasm, and she found herself missing it far more than she'd ever thought possible.

They talked and laughed and ate for nearly two hours, hot wings, pizza and soda flowed in astonishing quantities and yet the talk never waned. These guys loved their jobs and it showed. At one point Kirkland reached around her to get the attention of Jamie and his arm ending up staying in place, draped about her shoulders in a proprietary manner. The few who dared comment were bombarded with balled up pieces of paper thrown with an uncanny accuracy. Alyx helping them reach their intended targets only a minimal amount effort.

Almost on cue at five PM several of them glanced at watches and the scribbled notes were gathered up and wallets appeared just as the waitress showed. This was definitely a regular occurrence here. They strolled out of the building and into the late afternoon sunshine. This time of the year darkness settled in early and the temperature had dropped quite a bit already.

Two familiar minds registered on hers, but she ignored them for the moment, still having to deal with Kirkland and his friends.

"You should bring her around again. Nice to actually be reminded of what the female of the species looks like." Jamie, the obvious smart-ass of the group, commented with a grin.

"Wonder what Dorothy would say about that comment, J?" Another member of the group tossed out making Jamie frown slightly.

"You wouldn't." Jamie hit the bait hard and was rewarded with laughter from most of the group. "All right, just remember I know where you live." He turned back to Kirkland and Alyx. "Well, you gonna kiss her good-bye or not?"

Alyx was amused to feel the embarrassment that rushed across Kirkland and he blushed to go along with it. "Oh, I imagine he will, but after you boys leave. He doesn't want you to get in trouble with Dorothy."

"Keep this one Kirkland. Anyone who can match J, here is perfect for you." That came from one of the guys at the back of the group and Alyx realized it was true. She'd been matching Jamie's sarcasm and quick wit at every turn and usually to her advantage.

"Bucky-ball-boy there is right, keep this one." Jamie nodded at her. "See you back at the lab, Kirk."

The group broke up then and within minutes she and Kirkland stood alone on the sidewalk. "This was a lot of fun. Thanks for the invite."

"You are a lot more than I ever imagined. Where on earth did you learn thermodynamics?" He closed the distance between them curved a warm hand about the back of her neck, playing with the hair and stroking the skin in such a way as to make her shiver slightly.

Alyx shrugged. "I probably read a book on it somewhere. Does it really matter? I'm just glad I was able to do more than nod and look pretty for you." 

"Oh I never had any doubts about that." He leaned in for that kiss then, groaning softly as he pulled her closer. When he broke away, it was with great reluctance. "I have got to go. I only have a half day tomorrow, how about dinner at my place? I'll pick you up at six?"

Alyx debated, intentionally drawing out the moment, before answering with carefully chosen words. "So long as you don't think I'll be _underfoot_." The look her gave her was heated and she found herself reacting to it. His emotions impinging upon hers and directing them to a degree. She slammed the connection shut and was relieved there was no carry over, that the flow was cut off completely.

"Oh no, definitely not underfoot." He stole another kiss and moved away to his car. 

Alyx stood on the sidewalk and gave him a wave a he drove past before heading to her own vehicle. She focused on the pair of men parked a couple of blocks away. *Darien?*

*Yes?* His "voice" was stiff with anger and jealousy.

*Can we meet at my place? I need to speak to you and Hobbes before going to the Official.* Alyx explained quickly and without adding any extraneous emotion. She wanted no part of making him even more upset.

It took Darien a moment but he finally responded. *We'll meet you there.* Then he cut off the connection.

Alyx sighed and waited until they had driven past in Golda, adjusting her hair and other blatantly girlie things, before starting her car and driving away.


	7. Chapter 7

***

December Continued

Golda was parked in what had become _her_ accustomed spot when Alyx pulled into the garage at her apartment building. She drove past them, parked, turned off the engine, and just sat there for a moment to gauge the mood of the men within the ugly tan van. Neither was very happy or thrilled at being here instead of back at the office to debrief and get this day over with. Grabbing her bag she got out of the car and walked over to them.

Sliding open the side door she climbed into the van and closed the door with a solid thud. Darien sat slumped in his seat radiating a false boredom in an attempt to disguise the anger he felt at her. Hobbes turned in the seat wanting only to know why they were here.

As if voicing her thoughts Hobbes asked, "All right, kid, we're here. Could ya tell us why?"

"'Cause you guys are more likely to listen to me without the Fish breathing down your necks." Alyx was careful to keep her emotions inside and to treat the situation like any other work one. No matter how difficult that was turning out to be. "Kirkland isn't involved. Not directly anyway."

"So now its Kirkland?" Darien sneered as he turned about to see her through the open doorway dividing the front of the van from the rear.

"Cool it, Fawkes." Hobbes snapped. "What ya got kid?"

Alyx pointedly ignored Darien. "Couple of things. He was involved with the project and it was something _big_. Is something big, rather. The Official is correct that the project reconstruction in the new lab is a cover. But he had nothing to do with the explosion."

"That's one. What else?" Hobbes didn't question her, yet. He wanted all the info before he began poking holes in it.

"There were four guys at the lunch that were very suspicious of me." When Hobbes frowned at her she added. "Not me specifically. They would have been suspicious of anyone Kirk... Geofferies had with him. They were also markedly different in mindset." Alyx wasn't sure how to explain it, especially since the impressions were all emotional.

"How?" Hobbes prompted.

She closed her eyes and let the key impressions scroll through in her mind. "Lots of little things. Very structured, very controlled, and very similar to each other." She opened her eyes to meet Bobby's. "Reminded me of you in some ways. Chivalrous is the only word I can think of that fits."

Hobbes nodded. "Good catch, kid."

Darien looked confused. "Huh?"

"Fawkes, you wondered what lab techs would be doing with guns. What if they were military personnel?" Hobbes asked him.

"Well, hell. Miramar is right there, it could be. Do we know if Novadyne has any government contracts?" Darien asked after a moment to juggle all the pieces together for himself. And he knew Hobbes had been a Marine in another lifetime.

"No idea, but I bet Eberts can find out for us." Hobbes turned about and started the van. "I'll drop you off later, kid, okay?"

"Fine with me, Hobbes." Alyx settled back in the seat and tried to tune out the two men before her, who began arguing softly as they made their way through the late evening traffic and to the Agency.

Eberts dashed off to his precious computer once he had been given his marching orders concerning the possible government, and perhaps more specifically Marine, contracts Novadyne might have. Alyx had grudgingly spoken to the Official, making it clear she was still angry with him, but bending enough to allow the necessary information to be exchanged.

"When are you seeing him again?" The Official asked rather brusquely, making it appear he had far more important things to do on a Sunday night.

"Tomorrow, for dinner at his place." Alyx answered and contained the sigh at the combined reactions of all three men. "Which brings up another point. I believe he has data on the project at his place. Disks stored in a locked cabinet in his office."

"And?" The Official prompted.

"And if you think the data is that important, you might try accessing it while he's busy tomorrow." Alyx's mood was swiftly deteriorating, even after the rather pleasant afternoon she was getting tired. Tired of trying to hold out the emotions of those around her, tired of pretending to be something she was not, and just plain tired. Wanting to just lie down and stare at her ceiling in the darkness for a few hours. To be alone with her thoughts and no one else's for a change.

"You know his schedule?" Hobbes asked already considering the idea.

She shook her head. "He said he was working a half day and would pick me up at my place at six. He's a twenty minute drive from the penthouse in good traffic. Maybe ... maybe you can get in and make copies while he's meeting me?" She suggested with some reluctance.

"That's a forty minute window and she can warn you once they're back at his building." The Official tapped the desk with his fingers. "Not a bad idea. I'll make sure Eberts has the equipment you need. Miss Silver..."

"I have classes all morning. You'll have to choose another rat to run your maze." She was surprised when that earned a laugh from the man behind the desk. 

"Which ones this week?" Hobbes asked in curiosity.

"Hand to hand weapons and Diplomacy." Darien answered softly and Alyx turned about to look at him. 

"That's right. A fun and interesting week ahead for me getting beat up and bored to tears." Alyx wasn't surprised Darien had remembered. They tried to work their personal schedule about her classes and whatever work happened at the Agency. Juggling all the facets of their lives to steal a few minutes a day alone with each other. It reminded her of her last couple of years of college and for an instant she was undecided as to whether or not that comparison was a good one.

"Which means I have to go. I have to hit my place in the morning before the classes." She got to her feet. "Meet here after lunch to exchange info?" 

The Official nodded. "That should work. Eberts should have everything we need by then." He waved a hand in dismissal. "Good night."

"Night, Chief." Hobbes offered up as they left the room together. "Come on, kid, I'll drop you back at your place." He then turned to Darien. "Dinner? On me."

"Sure. My place in an hour. I'll get the beer." Darien offered, knowing he was gonna need a few of those beers for himself.

"Works. I'll be creative." Hobbes moved alongside Alyx as they made their way down to the parking area behind the Agency.

"Not too creative. I don't do raw fish." Darien had opened the driver's door as was leaning on the roof looking over at the two of them. "You wanna join us?" he asked of Alyx.

"No thanks. I am well and truly wiped." she explained, which was indeed true. However, she could tell he was still fighting with himself over his reaction to her and Kirkland and she did not need an evening of that at any time.

He was surprised to feel both thankful she'd turned him down and upset about it. "Oh, suppose you do have to rest up before your big date tomorrow."

She ignored the harsh tone of voice and simply walked around the van and climbed in, piling shield upon shield to get him out of her head for just an hour. "Can we go, please, Bobby?" she requested plaintively.

"Sure, kid." Hobbes got into the driver's seat and started Golda, not wanting to try and figure out what has his two partners sniping at each other this time. "Kid..."

"Not now, Bobby. I just need some time alone." Alyx interrupted in a voice that was so quiet he almost didn't hear her.

"All right, but just remember he's being a jerk because he cares about ya." Hobbes said in a low voice, betting she was working on one of her headaches. "I don't wanna see ya get hurt over this either."

"Thanks, Bobby, but it's not me I'm worried about." Alyx rubbed her cheek without realizing it. "Geofferies really likes me." she snorted softly at herself. "Likes Maddy, that is. If we end up hauling him in, how do we deal with it? He's not likely to stop calling for dates if he is innocent."

Hobbes tapped the steering wheel. "Well ... I ain't sure. Its not often that the perps we bring in are innocent." He glanced over at her and realized she was really concerned about this. "You like him too?"

She shook her head. "Not that way. He's the job and nothing more. But that doesn't mean I like screwing with his heart. When Maddy vanishes..." she trailed off not quite sure how to explain this.

"You don't want him hurt." It was obvious that she had yet to build up those calluses on her emotions that were necessary for the job, not yet able to distance herself from the work, and he knew it would take time. 

"No, I don't. I'm using him, Bobby, and it bothers me more than you could ever imagine." Alyx admitted with great reluctance. She was not in a mood for a lecture from Bobby on the "realities of the situation."

"If he is innocent, like you say, we'll work it so he never knows. Okay?" Hobbes was more than willing to work with her on this and it must have surprised the hell out of her based on the way she whipped her head about to look at him.

"You'd do that?" Alyx sounded just as shocked as she looked.

"Try to, at least. Look, kid, you damn well know it ain't gonna be peaches and cream, but if Geofferies had nothing to do with blowing the lab and killing those two, then yeah, we'll do what we can to work the situation." Hobbes said with no hesitation and listened as she sighed in relief. "And here we are at your doorstep." He pulled into a tow-away zone and turned to face her.

"Thanks." she said as she opened the door and slipped out. "For everything."

"No prob, kid. Get some rest." he waited until she was inside the building before pulling away. His mind already on what strange, yet edible food he could pick up for dinner.

"He's on his way out Fawkes." Hobbes said into the microphone as he watched Geofferies drive off in his classy black Beamer, heading for his rendezvous with the kid. "The clock is ticking."

Getting into the building had turned out to be a bit trickier than they expected, there was both a doorman outside and security in the lobby, so Darien couldn't just stroll in. He'd have to wait for someone else to exit or enter and slip in with them while invisible. On top of that Eberts had only been able to track down the very basic security for the apartments. It was a sure bet that Geofferies had his place upgraded; never mind what extra security he might have on the disks themselves. Alyx had only been able to give them a rough location of the secure safe. 

Not even she could pull off asking, "Oh, snuggle-bunny could you perhaps give me the combination to the secure safe you keep the Novadyne project disks in?" Which Hobbes had said, with all the appropriate sound effects and facial expressions. Alyx had been practically rolling on the floor with laughter while Darien had just glared at Hobbes. Even the Official had chuckled a bit and Eberts had actually cracked a smile.

The very same Eberts who was currently shifting uncomfortably in the seat next to Hobbes in what he could only think of as an intentionally annoying manner. "Eberts, I have duct tape and know how to use it."

Eberts frowned. "I like this situation no better than you, Robert, but in the event the disks are encrypted, which is the most likely scenario, I will, hopefully, be able to decrypt them in the allotted time."

Hobbes rolled his eyes and turned back to the building. "I know why yer here, Eberts, just sit still for it." Before Eberts could comment he spoke into the mic again. "Where you at Fawkes?"

Musak wafted across the headset, which told Hobbes his partner was currently riding in one of the fancy elevators heading up to Geofferies' floor, was most likely not alone and therefore not able to speak aloud without blowing his cover. Fawkes made sure to share every painful and mangled note with him during the long ride up to the twenty-fourth floor of the building where he was finally able to escape the confines of the little moving box.

"C-three, C-three." Darien muttered in Hobbes ear. "Ah, here we go."

The off-key whistling was intentional by Fawkes and Hobbes knew it, but that didn't make it any less irritating. "Move your ass, Fawkes. The meter is running."

"Tick-tock. Tick-tock." Darien intoned as he got the door open and slipped inside. He dropped the quicksilver and moved to the code box while pulling out the gear he might need from his satchel only to find it currently disarmed. Apparently the good doctor didn't think running out to pick up his date required he turn on the alarm.

He wandered through the place looking over the items and making note of their potential value out of habit. He also noted the various bits of security that were just as disarmed as the door alarm, making things way too easy for him. He also noticed the romantically set dinner table, and the meal that Geofferies had slaved away at. It looked like the guy was a chef in his spare time, for he'd created a meal to rival some of the more expensive restaurants in town. Not that Darien would actually know, not having visited many, hell any, of the classier places about town. 

Swiping a roll out of the basket he headed for the office that was down the hallway and opposite the luxurious bedroom that he glanced at as he strolled by the open door. The office on the other hand was not open and, in fact, had a rather impressive electronic lock on it that was enabled.

Pulling out the items he had planned on using on the main system he put them to use on the office lock instead. After removing the face of the lock he inserted a couple probes, then attached alligator clips to the correct spots. He then let the little handheld number generator go to work while he chewed the last bite of the roll.

"How we doing, Fawkes?"

"_I'm_ doing just fine, Hobbesy." The lock clicked and Darien smiled, stood and turned the knob to open the door. He gave the room a quick once over before removing the wires and reattaching the cover to the lock. The plan was to make sure there was no sign of his entry to keep Geofferies from getting suspicious and perhaps raising a ruckas before they were ready to move.

Inside the room he looked over the impressive array of computers, file cabinets and what had to be odd souvenirs from his work. Bottles and plastic encasing bits of unknown substances, pictures of him with various other people, mostly other lab coat types. Though there was one of him with what had to be his parents in full cap and gown that reminded Darien of that photo he had of Kevin and his aunt and uncle.

That was not a similarity he wanted to think about right now. Did not want a reminder of the fact that Alyx was probably far more suited to his brother, never mind this Geofferies, intelligence-wise than she would ever be with him. That she could have a least a chance of a normal relationship with the man. Something she would _never_ have with himself.

"Fawkes, need a sit-rep. Eberts has ants in his pants." Hobbes suddenly muttered in Darien's ear, knocking him from his mental musings.

"Umm, gimme a sec." Darien spun about looking for the cabinet Alyx had described. 

"That's about all you have. The kid called to say he was there, ahead of schedule. You have maybe fifteen minutes tops." Hobbes informed Darien, who groaned softly.

Finally he spied the cabinet at the end of the loveseat in the room, doing double duty as an end table. "Found it." He opened the decorative exterior door to reveal a complex locking mechanism on the _real_ door of the safe. However, he had been keeping up on the latest toys designed to keep thieves at bay and recognized this one. With a grin he keyed in a very special and expensive code — a code that was worth every penny of his carefully hoarded money — and swung the door open. 

Inside were stacks of CD-Roms and he had no idea which ones might be the ones they needed. "Hobbes there's about a hundred pretty silver coasters in plastic cases in here. Which ones am I after?"

Darien listened to Hobbes consult with Eberts before he had an answer. "Kid said to watch for the word Fish Hawk. Whatever the hell _that_ means." 

"Gotcha." Darien acknowledged and pulled out a pile of disks to go through. Eventually he found about a dozen of them, which he set to one side while placing the rest as neatly, as possible back inside the safe. "Got em. About a dozen of the suckers. Have Eberts walk me through the process."

There was some muffled arguing and then Eberts was on the headset. "Darien, there is no way you can copy a dozen disks in the time allotted." There was the sound of the mic being yanked away at the other end and more arguing. This time it was Hobbes' voice. "All right, just bring them down and we'll check them out here."

"You sure?" Darien double-checked even as he slid the laptop back into the bag and started packing the CDs in as well.

"Yes," he hissed. "They're back and on their way up. Move yer ass."

Darien glanced at a clock set on one of the bookshelves and realized he had indeed blown all his time sorting through the damn disks. "Crap."

*_Move it, bub.*_ Suddenly floated through his mind. *_And don't steal any more rolls._*

Darien chuckled as he got to his feet; he'd been considering doing exactly that. "I'm on my way out." he told Hobbes as he kicked the decorative door shut and slung the satchel's strap over his shoulder. He was out the office door and making it sure it was locked in a flash. Unable to resist the temptation he dashed into the kitchen and swiped another roll before heading to the front door.

*_Damn it, Dare!_* Alyx all but bellowed into his mind making him wince slightly.

He was about to open the door to sneak out when he caught sight of the alarm system. It was a pretty good one, but also one he was familiar with. Pressing a few buttons in quick succession, he had it set and knew it would go off about forty-five seconds after the door was open, provided Geofferies didn't notice it had been set, of course.

The sound of a key turning in the lock was Darien's cue to disappear and he was out of sight by the time the door swung wide and Geofferies ushered Alyx into his humble abode. She glared over at where he was leaning casually on the wall next to the door munching on the roll and wearing a huge grin at the surprise he knew was to come. He slipped out just as Geofferies turned about to shut and lock the door. 

Darien was halfway to the elevator when the alarm went off causing him to chuckle aloud.


	8. Chapter 8

***

December Continued

Kirkland rushed to the keypad and punched in the deactivation code. "Damn it. I could swear I didn't set that thing." He walked over to Alyx who was just removing her hands from her ears. "Sorry about that. And now the phone will ring." Right on cue it did so, he picked it up and began to explain to the security on the other end that everything was fine while Alyx looked over the place.

*_Darien, that was not nice.*_ Alyx admonished with amusement and got a head full of laughter in return. _ *And stop grinning._* 

She had to admit that for a prank it was a fairly harmless one and kind of funny. The place was huge. formal dining room off the kitchen that was partially visible through the built in glass wall with pass-through. Formal _sunken_ living with the mandatory leather furniture and precisely placed lamps and tables. The outside wall, which was floor to ceiling windows currently hidden behind curtains, was raised up with an almost balcony effect. The entire half wall of the sitting area filled with shelves holding books and various pieces of artwork. Moving to the short flight of stairs she strode across the hardwood floor to one of the windows and opened the curtains to gaze out upon the illuminated city of San Diego. It was a sight she was slowly growing used to seeing.

She felt Kirkland behind her long before his reflection appeared in the glass. He set a hand on her shoulder and met her eyes in the glass.

"I still haven't gotten used to the sight. Looks so very different from LA." Alyx commented softly as she continued to look out the window.

"Yes, I imagine it does. Dinner will be complete shortly." He set his hands on her waist and leaned in until his lips were brushing along the side of her neck. "I was thinking an appetizer might be in order."

Alyx sighed and tipped her head slightly to the side. "And what were you thinking of, caviar perhaps?"

"Mmmm, no." One hand slipped lower to rest on her hip and the other higher. With a small amount of pressure he got her to turn about and meet his eyes directly. "I was thinking you."

"Me?" She got out at a distracted mumble. The man was obscenely talented with both his hands and his mouth and she just went with it, hoping like hell that the guys would get the info they needed before this went too far. She really didn't want to have to manufacture a disagreement with Geofferies in order to keep what was left of her virtue intact. 

No matter how nice a man he seemed to be, there was still no way in hell she was going to sleep with him. "Figured you be saving me for dessert. To go with the creme brulee I smell."

He went perfectly still, his teeth grazing the tendons on her neck. The hand that had been on her hip slipped around behind to gently cup her rear, causing her to moan softly. "I was always a big fan of having dessert first."

She chuckled softly. Darien had said something very similar a little over a week ago, only the timer going off had kept him from having more than just a small nibble of _that_ dessert.

"You making fun of me?" Kirkland asked with a soft chuckle, one hand wandering up to cup her chin.

"Not for a second." Her eyes met his, noting they were this amazing shade of blue that very nearly had hints of violet in them they were so very vivid. "Maybe a bit curious as to whether you often have dessert first."

Kirkland gave her a light lingering kiss and then pulled away. "No, Maddy, I do not often have dessert first. I do not often meet someone I want to invite to my home after only a few days. And I most definitely do not find myself this ... hungry after so short a time." He pulled her close and lowered his mouth to her ear. "I think I could enjoy dessert for a very long time and never once miss not having the main course."

That was huge bucket of ice water poured on her psyche. Kirkland far more than just _liked_ Maddy, he was half way into being in love with her. And Alyx felt an incredible guilt wash through her, making the moment suddenly awkward. "Kirk..." He lifted his head up to meet her eyes. "Where are your glasses?" she blurted out unexpectedly.

Kirkland blinked twice and then began to laugh at her sudden non-sequitor. "You just now notice? All that effort gone to waste." He shook his head. "I can't wear the contacts at work when we're playing with chemicals. Too corrosive. And, yes, this is my natural eye color." Making it plain it had been asked before.

"Well, they are quite lovely. Shame to hide them behind glass." She went up on tiptoe and kissed him, her arms going about his neck. "Now, since you have indeed had your appetizer, would you care to show me around a bit? I know I like what I've seen so far and I'd like to see more." Her voice dropped on the last few words, with the desired reaction from him.

"The grand tour?" She nodded. "Of course milady." He gestured with a hand and with one arm draped over her shoulders he led her towards a set of shelves holding an interesting collection of items he'd acquired over the years.

"Come on, Eberts, you got anything yet?" Darien asked in irritation for the fourth or fifth time. He did not like the idea of leaving her alone with Geofferies for very long since it was damn obvious to him that the guy fully planned on capping that romantic dinner of his with Alyx for dessert.

"I am working as fast as I can." Eberts glanced over at Darien, his fingers still flying over the keys of his laptop. "And would be able to work with more efficiency if I was _not_ being asked to hurry up every forty-five seconds." His head snapped back to the computer when it emitted a series of beeps. He clapped his hands together and rubbed them with glee. "Yes. I got you now."

Darien grumbled under his breath and turned his attention to Hobbes who was watching the street warily. "Hobbes..."

"Fawkes, drop it." Hobbes ordered in exasperation without even turning to look at his partner. "Let Eberts finish so's we can get the job done."

"I'm more worried about _him_ getting the job done before us." Darien muttered.

Hobbes did turn and look at Darien then, his eyebrows heading upwards. "The kid is perfectly capable of spinning a tale to get her out of spending the night with him. _If _that's what she wants. She's good Fawkes, better'n I thought possible. Trust her to do the right thing."

"Oh I trust Alyx." Darien snapped out. "Its Geofferies I don't."

Hobbes chuckled and shook his head. 

"Robert, I believe I have found what we require to pick up Mr. Geofferies." Eberts spun the laptop about so both Darien and Hobbes could see. "This a private e-mail exchange that suggests that he did indeed know about the impending explosion at the lab nearly a week before it occurred."

Hobbes read over the series of e-mail exchanges Geofferies had saved and then pulled out his cell-phone. "Chief. We got what we need. Send the backup teams. Sir? All right, we'll be here." He put the phone away with a sigh. "We have three teams on the way, but it'll be about an hour before we can move."

Darien ground his teeth for a moment, wanting to get this over with now. "I'll give Alyx the heads up."

Hobbes set a hand on his arm. "Don't. No warning her. It needs to look real. She's already on shaky ground."

"Huh? Not warn her? What's I miss this time?" Darien looked just about as confused as he felt.

"There were inquiries into her background last night and this morning, which held up just fine, though a deeper probe might reveal she is not Madigan Dorchester." Eberts explained as he continued to decrypt the files and look through them for more information.

"The guys from the lunch?" Darien asked of Hobbes.

"Or their bosses. The requests came through the DoD, near as Eberts here could tell." Hobbes frowned slightly and tapped his knee with one finger. "There is something going on out at that lab. Something big, as the kid would say, and this Geofferies is mixed up in it up to his neck. I'm just surprised it took em that long to check her out."

Darien growled softly at Hobbes' choice of words. He knew it was the job, knew she was providing the needed distraction to get the intel they needed, knew she was keeping him busy till they could charge in and bust his ass ... But he didn't like it for one second. 

Alyx sighed deeply as she set down her spoon after eating the last bite of the magnificent creme brulee he had created. Taking a sip of the coffee she eyed him over the rim of the cup. He was watching her with eyes gone dark with amusement. So perhaps she'd been a little vocal while enjoying the dessert, but it had been fantastic. "Let me guess, you spent a year training at the Cordon Bleu before Cal-Tech?"

He chuckled. "No, my mother is a chef and made sure I knew how to cook before I headed out on my own. You have no idea how many times I've ruined that very confection over the years." He pushed himself to his feet and walked over to her, offering a hand to help her up.

"You want some help cleaning up?" she offered as he removed the cup from her hand and set it upon the table.

"No." His voice was rough with the restrained desire that was coming off him in waves. "I'm ready for the real dessert." He led her over to the couch and captured her lips for a searing kiss that left her gasping for air by the time he had released her. "Maddy, I'd like you to stay tonight."

Alyx wasn't sure how to answer that. Geofferies' emotional state was definitely influencing her reactions to a degree, though she was thankful she was only picking up his emotions and not broadcasting her own like she sometimes did with Darien. Thinking of him sent her on a mental quest to try and find out what was going on, only to have her careful inquiries ignored and she couldn't find out why. She was on her own with the situation and would have to figure out how to deal with it. Maybe they just needed some more time with the disks, time they needed her to stall for.

"Hmmm, too soon again?" Geofferies asked at a soft rumble, his voice vibrating through her it was so low and rough.

"Maybe." Alyx responded as his hands went wandering to places only Darien had tentatively explored in recent weeks, causing her to gasp and arch in reaction. A reaction that was far more surprise than desire, though Geofferies of course assumed it was the latter and responded to it that way.

"Ah, Maddy, you are a sweet little thing. Let me find out how sweet." His mouth was pressed against the hollow under her ear, the blood pounding through the artery lying just beneath his lips. With a smooth movement he had her lying beneath him on the rich buttery leather of the couch. Somewhere along the way several buttons of her shirt had come undone and he swiftly sought out this new flesh to explore with his tongue and teeth.

Groaning she tipped her head back and muttered, "Is that a test tube in your pocket or are you just happy to see me?"

Kirkland lifted his head and gazed at her for a moment as if disbelieving she had actually said that. Then he began to laugh. "See, I knew you were different from the _ladies_ I usually meet at that club." He brushed his lips across hers, still smiling. "Don't change."

"Not even into something more comfortable?" Alyx tossed out without really thinking about the consequences of those words.

Geofferies growled deep in his chest and shifted his hips so that she knew exactly how her statement affected him. "Oh, I plan on getting very comfortable, indeed." He returned to exploring newly exposed sections skin as her clothing became more and more open, but she had succeeding in changing the mood somewhat, becoming far more playful and less serious. Reducing his hurry, his sudden seeming desperate need to possess her in that most intimate of ways.

In fact, it took very little time for him to discover she was not only very sensitive to touch, but very, _very_ ticklish. Once he realized this she saw the mischief that invaded his eyes and she knew she was in deep trouble. Over the course of the next fifteen minutes he alternately teased and tormented her with hands and mouth until she lay beneath him panting and exhausted and begging him to stop. 

"And what will you do to get me to stop?" he asked even as his hands went after a particularly sensitive spot high up on her ribs.

"Anything." she squealed, just barely keeping herself from tossing him off her with her mind. "Anything you want." _Damn_,' she cursed mentally at herself. _Who knew tickling would do me in_.' 

His hands stilled, the curled fingers stretching out and becoming a caress that she couldn't stop herself from responding to. The firm touch a relief from the nearly painful tickling. "Anything?"

Alyx couldn't back down now since she was the one who swung this door wide open. Ignoring the feeling of dread that invaded she answered with as much feigned resignation as she could, making sure he knew this was a complete surrender. "Yes, you horrid man, anything." She pulled his shirttail out of his slacks with an easy movement; it had nearly worked itself out during their play, and slid her hands underneath and along his back, her fingernails biting in with just enough force to make him groan in reaction.

"Ah, damn." he muttered, his eyes slipping shut and she took her turn exploring the contours of his upper body much to his obvious pleasure.

It wasn't too hard to figure out what he liked or wanted, though if he started broadcasting any louder Hobbes would hear it down in the van. So she made sure to take it slow and he followed her lead. Drawing out the moment and going at such a relaxed pace that he was able to maintain that necessary edge of control that kept them both clothed for far longer than would normally have occurred.

Still he was quickly building to the point where the activity would have to progress beyond long, deep kisses and caresses impeded by layers of clothing. Alyx was finding herself caught to a degree, his physical nearness and mental openness, drawing her along no matter how hard she tried to keep him out. Without the connection her ardor would die quickly as she was using his to fuel her own reactions.

It was plain he was unwilling to wait much longer just by the sudden change of tenor in his mind and in his caresses. He got her shirt completely open and was working his way down to her pants when his front door was slammed open and shouts drew his focus away from her and to the black-suited, gun-waving maniacs that had invaded his privacy.

"Aw come on, man, it's been like two hours now. Are we gonna do this or not?" Darien whined. He had tried to be good, had done nothing more than look pointedly at his watch roughly every fifteen minutes since the original hour deadline had come and gone without so much as a phone call to explain where the backup was.

"Agent Fawkes," Eberts went into the standard placation spiel in his most overbearing tone possible, thoroughly annoyed at his point by all the distractions that were keeping him from accessing the data a quickly as he would have liked. "The Official needs to obtain the necessary..."

"Shut up, Eberts." Darien muttered quietly, not even bothering to put any force behind the words. Even done with such a lack of enthusiasm they were still effective, causing Eberts shut his mouth and huff in discontent, going back to his laptop and the bits of information he was tickling from it.

Darien was working on a mild headache mostly due to being cooped up with the snark twins for the last two hours of his life. That was about one hour and fifty-nine minutes too long. Though even he would admit that Alyx being up there doing god knew what with Geofferies didn't help all that much.

"Keep yer pants on, Fawkes." Hobbes caught the dagger-like glare shot at him, but ignored it. Fawkes had been touchy about this _dinner_ ever since it had been suggested and Hobbes didn't see his partner's mood improving any time in the near future. "They should be here any ... Ah, here they are now."

Three piece-of-crap Agency vehicles pulled into available empty spots along the street in front of the van. Hobbes promptly hopped out and headed to meet those emerging from the cars to coordinate whatever move they were going to make to bring in Geofferies. The discussion was short and Hobbes was back minutes later pulling open the passenger side door and waving for Darien to get out.

"Let's move it, partner. Just follow my lead." Hobbes slammed the door shut. "Behave, Eberts." he shouted as they crossed the street with six agents all wearing suits, ear pieces and dark glasses.

Darien had to admit they knew what they were doing; two separated from the main group and secured the lobby, keeping both the doorman and the security at the desk from doing more than emitting squeaks of protest before hands went up and they were secured.

"Hobbes, I gotta give Alyx a heads up." Darien hissed as they rode the elevator skyward.

"No. We're going in and treating her like any other unknown." He saw the frown cross Fawkes' features and decided to explain. "We don't dare blow her cover yet. These guys will go easy on her, they know her, but she's gotta be surprised." He turned to Darien who was ready to protest. "Trust me on this."

Darien wanted to argue, but the arrival of the elevator at the designated floor made the point moot anyway. With Alyx there was a good chance she'd know they were coming anyway. The group stood outside the door and waited for Hobbes' signal, which came quickly, as they had no real reason to wait and plenty to hustle through this before one of the neighbors noticed something going on.

The door was slammed open by the shoulders of two of the heftier agents and they burst into the apartment. Darien wasn't quite sure what he was expecting to find, but the sight of Geofferies sprawled across Alyx, her shirt unbuttoned, skin flushed, and Geofferies in much the same state caused his vision to turn suddenly red.

Within seconds both Geofferies and Alyx were on the floor with hands behind their heads and orders being barked by Hobbes or one of the others. Darien stood frozen in place as Geofferies was dragged upright and cuffs snapped onto his wrists. He screamed, he begged, he protested, and was completely ignored.

"Deal with the chick, Fawkes" Hobbes barked, breaking Darien out of his shocked stupor. 

"Yeah. Sounds like a good idea to me." Darien stalked over to where she was slowly getting to her feet, one hand holding her shirt closed. He grabbed her by her free hand and dragged her out of the living room and slammed her into the nearest wall. Anger and jealously had taken over and he had all but forgotten the job at hand. "Well, you been enjoying yourself ... Maddy?" he snarled in a low voice.

Alyx froze.


	9. Chapter 9

***

December Continued

One minute Alyx was enjoying the fact she was no longer being tickled by Kirkland and trying to figure out how to derail him off his current track before she unavoidably freaked completely when the door to the apartment was smashed in. Four black suited agents along with her partners swept into the room and towards them. She wasn't overly surprised she hadn't sensed them coming, she'd been more than distracted enough to miss the subtle warnings of familiar minds being nearby. 

Geofferies slipped off her and stood in a gallant effort to protect her, a failing effort as he was swiftly shoved to the floor with the weight of one of the larger agents pressed firmly into his back. Alyx got the same treatment, though a bit gentler. Good idea as she knew where Montague worked and could flatten him with a thought, and he knew it.

She played along perfectly. Crying out in pain and fear, asking what was going on, pleading for them to stop. The whole nine yards. The rage and fear running through Geofferies was astonishing as was his commentary about their various animal related lineage's and his demands that she be left out of it. It was just another reminder of how carefully she would need to tread when this came to a head. Geofferies was going to be hurt one way or another.

Hobbes was patting down Geofferies when he barked, "Deal with the chick, Fawkes."

"Yeah. Sounds like a good idea to me." Darien's voice was a low growl that forced her to pay attention to him. She watched him storm over to her, his look dark as she slowly got to her feet. She yelped in surprise when he grabbed her free hand, the other busy trying to keep her shirt shut, and forced her out of the living room. He didn't stop until he had slammed her into the wall near the kitchen.

"Well, you been enjoying yourself ... Maddy?" he snarled in her ear, his hand coming up and twisting the collar of her shirt until he was applying pressure on her throat. Her hands came up to rest on his, hoping her touch would be enough to calm him down a bit, without success. If anything his anger cranked up a notch and he drew her back and shoved her into the wall again hard enough to make her see stars.

"Agent Fawkes..." one of the other agents spoke up, trying to intervene on her behalf, only to be shut down by a glare from Darien.

"I will deal with her." Darien focused back on Alyx. "Won't I?"

Alyx's heart had lodged firmly in her throat. She had heard "you" instead of "her" and _that_ phrase was burned into her mind from countless previous experiences and the voice ... The voice was one she'd hoped to never hear again in her lifetime.

She blinked hoping the sight before her would change, but it failed to. Darien was gone, to be replaced with ... She tried to convince herself it wasn't true, that it was impossible, but the image she saw didn't change. _He_ was suddenly holding her pinned to the wall. The same pale blue eyes, the same perfect blonde hair, the same cold hatred and disgust on that, oh so, perfect face. His lips curled into a sneer and panic crawled through her, leaving her unable to react beyond staring at him wide-eyed and shaking in terror.

Hobbes caught the nasty tone in Fawkes' voice and shoved Geofferies towards Harmon. "Get him downstairs, nice and quiet. Get him back to the Agency and put im on ice. Got it?"

"Yes, sir." Harmon answered and moments later he and his partner were out of the apartment leaving Hobbes and two other agents to deal with Maddy.' He was staring at Fawkes and the kid, trying to figure out what was bugging him about the picture, aside from the fact that Fawkes hadn't backed down even though Geofferies was out of sight. "Fawkes?"

Alyx whimpered then and Hobbes realized what was so odd, she was, for lack of a better term, sweating quicksilver. Instead of coating her like it was supposed to, it was simply running down her face and neck in rivulets to drip off onto the wood floor where they finally shattered, crystallizing and scattering like fine dust.

The kid must be freaking over something and unconsciously trying to go see-thru out of fear he concluded. He wasn't quite sure why she wasn't just disappearing, though he figured it was simply because she and Fawkes were wired different. Where sometimes Fawkes couldn't prevent himself disappearing, the kid had to actually make it happen, or something like that. Hobbes wasn't really up on the technical aspects of the pair; that was Claire's job. 

Hobbes cautiously walked over to the couple, hoping to draw Fawkes' attention away from her. He had a nasty habit of taking his bad moods out on her lately. "Fawkes, back off." He set a hand on Fawkes' forearm and found him warm to the touch making it a good bet Fawkes was in Stage One already. "Damn it!" He physically removed Fawkes' hand from where it was still twisting her shirt and nearly choking her.

"Back off, little man." Darien snapped yanking his arm away and backing off a step. "I'll handle the little sl..."

"Shut up, Fawkes!" Hobbes ordered shoving Fawkes away from the kid and making him stumble. He instinctively reached for his gun, but managed to not draw it, though he left his hand resting atop it as a warning. "You're red-lining it again, my friend. Just back down." Hobbes turned back to Alyx who was still staring at Darien in pure fear, the quicksilver still pouring off her uselessly. "Kid, you okay?"

It took a couple seconds, but she was finally able to focus on the person standing before her and _see_ him. "Bobby, get him away from me." she said at a harsh whisper, her fear only backing down the tiniest amount. Enough of her knew that Bobby wouldn't let _him_ hurt her, so she allowed Bobby to do what came naturally, and protect her.

"You heard her, Fawkes, get out. Go sit in the van with Eberts until I can get you back to the Keep." Hobbes stepped between Fawkes and the kid and pointed at the door.

"Hobbes," Darien grouched, his temper fading now that Hobbes was blocking his view of her. Lifting a hand to run through his hair he caught sight of the monitor, noticing there was far more red than green. So maybe that headache hadn't been just because he'd been stuck in the van playing mediator for Hobbes and Eberts. It was looking like maybe he should have paid a visit to the Keep before heading out here tonight. "Let me..."

"No, Fawkes. Just get out. Baker, escort Agent Fawkes to the van and make sure he stays there." Hobbes didn't miss the look of hurt in his partner's eyes, but didn't back down. Alyx was still staring at Fawkes in complete shock and the quicksilver pouring off her had yet to lessen. "Look at her, Fawkes."

Hobbes' softly spoken words had the desired effect. Darien nodded and left the apartment with Baker trailing along to make sure he went where Agent Hobbes had told him. As soon the door had been swung shut Hobbes released the breath he'd been unintentionally holding and turned back to Alyx.

"All right, kid, he's gone. Care to tell me what the hell is going on?"

Alyx shook her head. Bobby would think she'd gone completely off her rocker if she told him the truth, plus it would open up one huge honking kettle of fish she had no interest in dealing with right now, especially not with Bobby.

"Then you think you could cut the quicksilver show?" Hobbes requested with some concern as he stepped back towards her. It was damn good thing this had gone down inside the apartment and not somewhere more public. The kid attracted enough attention without showing off her little talent by accident.

"Wha... What?" Alyx blinked in confusion, not having any idea what Bobby was talking about.

"Kid..." Tugging her shirt closed, he ran a hand along her cheek and showed her that it was covered in quicksilver. "This, kid. I take it you don't do the involuntary thing the same way Fawkes does."

Alyx looked down at his hand, then at herself. "Ah, hell." Closing her eyes she took a couple minutes to get control back, convincing the unexpected flight reaction to end, the quicksilver stopping and flaking away. "No, I'm not tied to the adrenal response the way he is. However, it looks like under extreme conditions I'll go into a similar reaction. Probably some primitive self-preservation response." She buttoned up her shirt, but left it hanging loose as she still had a role to play. "The Keep'll probably find it fascinating and want to run tests. Goody."

Hobbes chuckled knowing she was probably right, but he was still curious as to what had set her off. "What extreme conditions'?" 

But she expertly deflected the question. Holding out her wrists, she dropped her voice to a sultry tone. "Cuff me, Hobbesy." When his jaw dropped open in surprise she added, "Come on, ya know you want to."

Hobbes snorted, but pulled out his cuffs from his pocket knowing they had to keep up the pretense for the time being. He snapped them on her wrists while she smirked up at him. "I still wanna know what happened here," he said softly and she nodded to acknowledge it.

"Maybe later." She turned to the other agent in the room. "All right, Hill, looks like I'll be riding with you and Baker."

Hill looked over at Hobbes who nodded and turned Alyx over to him. It was probably best that she not ride in the van, first off it would look odd and second it was safer to keep her and Fawkes separated for the time being. "I'll call ahead and try and arrange it so Geofferies sees her being brought it, might make a useful bargaining point."

"Oh, that it will, Bobby. That I can guarantee." She paused next to the door, Hill having grabbed her jacket and purse for her, and turned back to Hobbes. "Thanks, Bobby."

"You got it kid."

They worked it perfectly. As Alyx was brought in Geofferies was being moved from a mostly empty office to the padded room for his interrogation and he got a good look at her. He struggled and tried to break away to go to her, but was stopped and got the chance to get acquainted with the paint on the wall up close and personal. She did the whole teary-eyed confused and scared routine as she was escorted to the very room Geofferies had just been taken from while he was marched away shouting that she had nothing to do with the situation and to let her go.

Once in the office with Hobbes and Baker the cuffs were removed and she set about putting herself back together. The crocodile tears and fake hysteria having done a good job of making her look like the wreck she felt. She caught the odd look Hobbes was giving her. "What? Did I overdo it or something?"

"Nah, it was perfect. You take the acting class already?" Hobbes leaned back against the wall killing time. He wanted Geofferies good and worked up before he started questioning him. 

"Nope. I grew up with three brothers; I learned real fast how to get them into the most trouble possible with the least risk to myself. Luckily when I was finally caught my parents found it amusing and encouraged me to keep in practice." Alyx told him as she arched back to stretch a bit. The night was going to a long and uncomfortable one for all of them. "Let me guess, Ebes is off sorting through the data on the disks and Darien is down on the Keep being told he's a bad boy for using too much quicksilver again."

Hobbes smiled. "Yeah. You gonna come watch the show?"

She nodded, getting to her feet. "I can feed you info, if you're willing."

Hobbes seriously considered it as she walked towards him. "Let me have a go at him first, but watch him. See how he reacts." Baker opened the door and they headed for the stairwell, heading downstairs to the white room that Geofferies was currently the sole resident of.

"We need a real interrogation room, Bobby. The white room is only intimidating for those who fear it. For the rest it's just a great place to catch a nap." She glanced over at him with a sly grin and he coughed into his hand.

"You know about that, huh?" He caught her smile and shook his head. "What can I say, the chief won't even spring for a cheap sofa in the so-called coffee room and it's not like it gets used all that often these days."

"Thank god for that." Alyx muttered under her breath as they strolled down the hallway to the viewing room. A couple agents stood on either side of the door to the padded room who nodded to the three of them.

"He stopped yelling, finally, but he's real pissed. Keeps screaming for a lawyer." Lowell said and his partner, Harmon, rolled his eyes in agreement.

"Perfect." Hobbes commented as he opened the door and waved Alyx in ahead of him.

The Official was waiting for them. "Good work, Miss Silver." Alyx ignored him and moved over to the glass to look at Geofferies who was pacing the small room like a caged lion. "Hobbes, get what we need."

"Yes, sir."

"Without breaking him. He's to be returned unharmed." The Official admonished at the look of glee in Hobbes' eyes.

"Me, sir?" Hobbes tried for innocent, but didn't quite succeed.

The Official chuckled. "I want answers on my desk first thing in the morning."

"You'll have them." Alyx said quietly. "Even if they're not the ones you want." She didn't even bother looking over at him. One hand came up to rub her cheek as he left the room, the door closing softly behind him.

"Well, kid, he ready for me?" Hobbes asked, betting she'd been assessing Geofferies state of mind.

"Yes," she answered softly, focused on the man in the room before her. "But he won't cooperate easily." She turned to face Bobby. "When the time is right use me — Maddy — to get him to break."

"Kid?" Hobbes moved beside her and watched the guy for himself.

"He's good Bobby, good at keeping the secrets secret. When the time comes give him what he's asking for. I'll do my part." Alyx managed to keep her voice steady and calm, not giving away the fact that she didn't care for playing this role very much and probably never would though there was little chance she'd never be called to do something like this again.

It took nearly three hours for Alyx to come up with the key that would get Geofferies to break, not that Hobbes hadn't done his best, but even with printouts off his very own disks waved in front of his face, Geofferies just sat there silent and glowering. Doing nothing more than occasionally demanding that he and Maddy be released or requesting an attorney.

Alyx scribbled a note on a piece a paper and shoved it into a file with a stack of blanks and had Hill deliver it to Hobbes as if it had come from Eberts. Hobbes looked slightly confused at the short sentence ... at first, but when understanding dawned he got this hard look in his eyes and his lips pressed together into a thin line. Hobbes glanced at the mirror as if to confirm this is how Alyx wanted to play it. 

*_Do it, Bobby._* Alyx sent to him and he closed the file and rubbed his forehead, giving her a slight nod in acknowledgment.

"All right, Geofferies, maybe it wasn't you alone. Maybe your new girlfriend was in on it." He waved the file at Geofferies. "Maybe she's a lot more like her daddy than you were led to believe. Maybe your employers should've looked a bit deeper into her background."

Geofferies blinked on confusion. "I met Maddy a week after the accident."

"Publicly, yeah. For all we know you two have been in cahoots for months. Thanks to her daddy, she has the connections to get the explosives used in the _accident_ and you had access to the lab." Hobbes began to pace as he warmed up to this new tack. "Who were you planning on selling the data to? Not her, obviously, though I'm not surprised you kept her around. Sweet little thing like that. That victory screw musta been real nice."

That did it. Geofferies was up off the padded bed and on Hobbes in a flash. Had him by the collar of his jacket and slammed into the nearest wall. "You leave her out of this."

Baker and Hill opened the door to the room and stepped inside, shock sticks drawn and on. Hobbes held up a hand to prevent them from acting too soon.

Geofferies turned to the two agents and snarled, "I want to see Maddy. Now."

Baker and Hill looked at Hobbes who clearly remembered what Alyx had said to do without her having to prompt him. "Do it."

Once the agents left the room, ostensibly to fetch Maddy, Geofferies released Hobbes and backed away a step. "Why are you doing this?" he hissed.

Hobbes shrugged. "My job." He watched as Geofferies ran his hands through his hair and then scrubbed his face. He was looking more than a bit tired and stressed out by this point, but Hobbes had to admit he was good. On his own Geofferies would probably keep the secret till the day he died. The kid was right; she was going to be the piece that got him to break. 

It was almost ten minutes before Alyx was escorted into the room, an agent to either side of her, and looking frightened.

"Leave us alone." Geofferies all but ordered. "Its not like you won't hear everything." He jerked a thumb in the direction of the mirror.

Hobbes nodded. "Out." he told the agents and followed them, then headed straight for the viewing room where he found both Eberts, with his laptop, and Fawkes, who looked like hell warmed over. "Come to watch the show or looking for more fuel?" Hobbes asked him.

"Huh?" Darien asked as he watched Geofferies go to a stunned Maddy and try and comfort her.

"Hell Fawkes, every time you hit red lately you go right after her. Why?" Hobbes ignored the look Eberts flashed at him and kept his eye on his partner.

Darien shrugged, not about to explain the truth about _that_ right now. Besides, he had other concerns. "What happened tonight? I mean, she doesn't usually freeze up like that."

"She was playing a part, remember?" Hobbes answered as if it should be obvious, but Darien shook his head in disagreement.

He turned away from the sight on the far side of the glass and looked at Hobbes. "Hobbes, why didn't she flatten me once Geofferies was gone? She freaked, completely, and I don't think it had anything to do with me and my crappy behavior."

Hobbes snorted. "Crappy behavior is putting it mildly. You were just about choking her again, my friend." But Hobbes realized that Fawkes had a point, just few weeks back she had easily fought off Fawkes with only minor effort, but this time ... This time she had indeed _freaked,_ complete with an attempted disappearing act. "You thinking something else is going on with her?"

"I don't know." Darien admitted a bit ruefully. Since this job had started they'd not spent all that much time together, partially because he'd been unable to curb his jealousy. "She's been having some trouble sleeping and some ... uh, dizzy spells, I'd guess you call them."

"Fawkes..."

"I heard her tell the Keep, okay? Sheesh, can you stay out of Naughtyville for one second?" Darien grumbled and then realized the effect his words had on the company pier Nazi standing beside him. "Don't start."

"Damn it. You're the one trying to jump her every time you get on the train to nutsoville, not me." Hobbes eyed Darien warily. "You've been messing around ain'tcha?"

"No."

"Ha! One-word answers give you away every time, Fawkes. How many times..." Eberts loudly clearing his throat ended Hobbes' rant. "What?" Hobbes snapped.

"I think you should be paying attention, Robert." Eberts nodded at the glass and the pair talking quietly beyond it.

"Crap." Hobbes muttered and turned up the volume on the speaker.


	10. Chapter 10

***

December Continued

As soon as the room was clear of Agency personnel Geofferies rushed to Alyx who made sure to do the perfect combination of scared, confused and relieved to see him all at the same time. "Kirk, what is going on?"

He ran his hands over her to make sure she was unharmed and then cupped her face. "Ah hell, Maddy. I'm sorry about this. It has to do with my work." Taking her hands he led her over to the padded bed and encouraged her to sit. After glaring at those he knew were on the other side of the mirror he sat down beside her.

"They said I was involved in some sort of explosion, some conspiracy. That my ... my father was involved." She shook her head. "I left LA because of him, have tried to stay out of his _business_, and this ... Why are they doing this?"

"Maddy, it has nothing to do with you and I'm sorry you got dragged into it." He watched as she nodded and then dropped her head, shaking slightly. "Come here."

Alyx let him wrap his arms about her and pull her close. He was damn near ready to break all on his own, wanting to keep her out of it, to keep her uninvolved in the darker, and sometimes more dangerous aspects of his work. "And here I thought you were just some sweet geek with connections, getting into the Palace and all, and instead you're the mastermind of some great conspiracy that has the government breaking into your home to drag you out of a carefully planned intimate moment." She laughed ruefully. "I'm hoping this tour of a padded room wasn't part of the plan? Hey, at least they didn't provide straightjackets for the complete effect." There was more than a touch of hysteria in her voice at this point.

"Easy there. It'll be all right." Kirkland ran his hands along her spine, trying to comfort her and knowing that until the situation was straightened out there was little chance of that. Looking over her shoulder he tried to stare through his reflection to see those beyond it, without success. "Maddy," He gently pushed her upright so he could meet her eyes. "You need to trust me on this, okay?"

She nodded, keeping up the pretense of confusion and fear, but damn if it wasn't difficult. Using him like this, playing him, with his emotions... she hated it, but was well aware she was also damn good at it. "All right, but what do I do? They keep threatening me, saying I did things..."

He set a finger to her lips. "You didn't, right?" Alyx nodded in agreement. "Then don't worry about it."

In the viewing room Darien was drumming the fingers of one hand impatiently on the ledge before the window. "Come on, Alyx, ask him to spill."

Hobbes grunted. "I hope not. Screw everything up if she does." He stopped his pacing and moved over next to Darien and looked at the couple still talking quietly. He'd give them another five and then yank Alyx out of the room.

"Huh? Thought that's why she's in there?" Darien turned away from the sight of Alyx once again curled up against Geofferies, though this time it seemed it was him who wanted the comfort. His eyes closed and head leaning against hers, his face a mask of pain. It wasn't difficult for Darien to figure out the guy really liked her, liked Maddy anyway, and for the first time realized exactly how hard this must be on her. She'd told him several times, but until now it hadn't really sunk in. 

"Look," Hobbes began, interrupting Darien's sudden attack of deep thoughts. "If she starts asking for him to give us what we want, he'll get suspicious, but if she keeps playing it the way she is, scared and confused, he'll cave all on his own. To protect her." He turned away to lean back against the counter and watch Eberts who was still working at compiling data for use. "And when I pull her out of the room by force, that should put him over the edge."

Darien shook his head. "She hates this. You do know that, right?"

"Yeah, I know, but she's also damn good at it. This role-playing thing..." Hobbes almost sounded in awe of her. "I'm good. The kid's a natural." He noticed the way Geofferies was whispering into her ear now and decided it was time to break up the little party. "Baker, time to get her out of there. A little manhandling, but don't overdo it. Don't want Geofferies trying to defend her honor."

"Agent Hobbes, I'd be more worried about her defending Geofferies. She's convinced he's innocent." Baker told them.

"I ain't saying he's not." Hobbes conceded. "But we still need the info and he's got it."

"He's gonna want to deal for her." Darien commented softly.

"Probably." Hobbes waved at Baker who left the viewing room to appear seconds later in the padded room with his partner Hill.

"You leave her out of this." Geofferies shouted as she was all but torn from his arms. "Damn it, you bastards, she had nothing to do with this."

"Kirk, don't." Alyx said in a scared voice. "I... I'll be okay. You do what you need to."

Hobbes grinned. "Oh kid, that was perfect." 

As soon as the door was shut Geofferies was up and pacing floor, his frustration evident as he raked his hands through his hair making it stand up wildly and reminding Hobbes of the painstaking coif his partner usually sported. Hair that now hung low on Darien's forehead, the warranty for the gel or whatever he stuck in it having obviously expired about three hours ago.

The door to the viewing room opened then and Alyx strode in wearing a frown. She smiled slightly at the men packed into the room. "Hey Ebes, Darien." she greeted them in a tired voice. Going to the window she placed her hands on the cool glass and closed her eyes.

"Well, kid? How long do you think it'll..." 

Geofferies rushed to the window and slammed a fist against it right next to where Alyx was standing, her eyes still closed, but now looking like she was in pain. "Let Maddy go!" he shouted, making them thankful the volume for the mic in the room had been turned down.

"...take for him to break." Hobbes finished.

"Oh, not very I'm guessing." Darien commented in a dry tone.

"He still needs a small push." Alyx said in a soft voice.

"And I have just the thing." Hobbes flipped the switch on the side of the microphone and leaned his hands on the counter. "'Fraid I can't do that. We're waiting for the results of some tests on the explosive used to blow the lab." Hobbes paused to draw out the moment, to get Geofferies to sweat a bit more. "Its looking like it might match a partial shipment we found in one of Kenneth Dorchester's storage facilities. His little girl is apparently more involved in the family business than anyone thought."

Geofferies threw up his hands, completely at a loss at how to get through to these people. He backed away from the glass to end up leaning against the padded wall across from it, Alyx reached out and turned up the volume to the room sound and Geofferies quietly muttered words became plain as day. "I told them this was a stupid idea."

"That what was a stupid idea, Dr. Geofferies?" Hobbes jumped on it, not giving the man a chance to deny or back away from the tiny revelation he'd let escape.

Alyx sighed. The wall that she'd felt in Geofferies mind, crumbled, his carefully hoarded and protected thoughts now open, allowing himself to remember everything. She didn't go perusing through them; just waited for Bobby to start asking the questions that would allow them to get to the truth.

Hobbes covered the mic and looked at her. "Kid?"

"He's ready, just don't push the Maddy angle too hard or he'll clam back up." she explained in a distracted voice, still focused on the man in the other room.

Hobbes grunted in reply and nodded. "Well, Dr. Geofferies? That blowing up the lab was stupid? Selling the intel was stupid? Killing two men was stupid?"

"God damn it, no one is dead." Geofferies snapped and then spun about to punch the wall in anger. "Let Maddy go. She knows nothing about any of this."

"True." Alyx muttered barely loud enough for Hobbes to catch. She blinked back to herself and flicked off the mic real quick. "Bobby, Geofferies really believes _no one_ died in that accident."

Hobbes shoved her hand away and flipped the mic back on. "Try explaining that to the families of the two men who buried them." He watched Alyx instead of Geofferies, who had closed her eyes and was leaning against the glass again.

"And I'm telling you it was all a set up. Some fool leaked the info to the press and it got all blown out of proportion. Those _lab_ _techs_ never existed." Geofferies stormed back over to the mirror, his eyes blazing with anger.

"Oh!" Eberts suddenly said behind them.

"What, Eberts?" Darien asked, feeling like a fifth wheel at the moment.

"I... I need to check something." And with that Eberts closed the laptop and rushed from the room.

"Well that was a lot of help." Hobbes griped and turned back to the problem at hand. "And how does this not involve Miss Dorchester?"

"Look, you want info, I want her released. Think we can deal?" Geofferies said after taking a moment to convince himself to cool down.

"Easy Bobby, now is the time to deal." Alyx warned him in a quiet voice.

Hobbes nodded. "I'll need a bit more before I'll be able to convince my superiors she's not involved."

Geofferies groaned and turned about to lean his back on the glass. "How about that the project is ongoing?"

"We know that. You're supposedly reconstructing the lost data." Hobbes countered, hoping that would get them even more details.

The laughter that came across the speakers was harsh. "Is that the tale they spun? Fools." He made sure with his tone to give the impression he was not one to suffer fools lightly. "The project is ongoing and was **never** interrupted."

Hobbes flipped off the mic and turned to Alyx.

"True." she said as one hand came up to rub her forehead. She was working on one of her nastier headaches at this point.

"Damn." Darien muttered in disbelief. "Then what the hell have we been investigating?"

"I've no fricking..." Hobbes was interrupted by Eberts barreling back into the room with printouts in his hands. "Eberts?"

"Dr. Geofferies is telling the truth." He handed the papers to Hobbes who looked them over. There were grainy printouts of the two dead lab technicians and what had to be their identical twin brothers who were Marines stationed at Miramar. "They reported for duty as recently as yesterday, so I would surmise they are, indeed, very much alive."

"Well...crap." Darien stated for everyone, causing Alyx to chuckle softly.

Hobbes looked over the papers again then walked to the mic. "If we let her go you'll answer our questions?"

"Anything, everything. Get me a computer and the disks and I'll **show** you." He slumped down slightly, knowing he was going to probably get fired and possibly thrown into the brig for this or whatever it was the military did to civilians who broke their annoying rules. "Just let her go."

"Done." Hobbes told Geofferies then opened the door to the viewing room. "Baker, you and Hill move the doc back upstairs. Eberts you're with them, take a computer and the disks. I'll join you in fifteen."

It was dawn before they had the complete story, and what a story it was. Geofferies and his team had been working on a fuel that shared some similarities with napalm, but was in fact very, very different. It was a jellied, slow burning, lightweight, high combustion temperature, gasoline-type substitute, which had the added benefit of a low risk of exploding when abused.

They'd been testing it in a remote controlled gasoline car with a retrofitted engine, on the track out behind the main building when a group of military folk from Miramar, out on a tour of the facilities, happened upon them. When asked, after a quick description of the fuel and its efficiency compared to standard gasoline — a 500% increase - if it would work in airplanes and was told yes, with some engine modifications, the discussion became animated. 

Next thing Geofferies and his group knew the Marines from Miramar were all over the project and they were now top secret. Hobbes was forced to ask Geofferies three times why the project had been taken over by Miramar before he believed it.

The Osprey.

Or rather, to be specific, the MV-22. To quote the Marines themselves straight from their public website: "The MV-22 is a medium-lift, multi-mission tilt-rotor aircraft that is being acquired by the U.S. Marine Corps to replace its aging CH-46E helicopters."

Models were also being built for the Navy (HV-22) and the Air Force (CV-22), but the Marine version was the one being most heavily produced. It was also having some problems, which this new fuel Geofferies and his team had created could solve with only minor redesign to the original machine. The whole blow-up the lab scheme was to keep the new fuel a secret from the Navy and Air Force, the Marines wanting to be a step ahead with the design and use of the Osprey, while the others waffled in problems.

The lab that had been blown up was a fake, a duplicate of the original lab, now known as 536B, to keep the Navy, who had heard rumors of the fuel and had begun sniffing around after it, off the track about its existence. The two dead lab techs were a Sergeant Major and Captain assigned to baby-sit the project and act as liaisons to the hierarchy at Miramar. Their deaths had been faked to explain their absences from Novadyne and to add credence to the implication that all the data had been lost in the accident.

Geofferies had backed up all the information to his home system as a precaution and had kept copies of all the messages involving the planned accident as well as VCD copies of the security videos. The edited versions showing the dead techs, but not them getting up and walking away after the proper amount of gore had been recorded that was on the unedited copies Geofferies had. Geofferies had everything he needed to not only clear Maddy, but also himself from any involvement with the accident as well as having documented his dislike of the plan.

Alyx sat in the next office over, having spent the last three hours listening over a cheesy speaker and feeding Bobby info all during the questioning. She'd had a headache when this had begun and by this point she could barely think. She'd even allowed Darien to try to help her by gently massaging her shoulders and giving her something comfortable to lean against instead of the hard-backed chair. Namely him. 

When Bobby finally decided they were done for the night Alyx groaned and dropped the links she'd been maintaining. Darien had dozed off with his arms wrapped about her over an hour ago, his legs were stretched out across two chairs, and his head tipped slightly to rest atop hers. She wished she could sleep so easily. Shifting to sit up, he loosened his hold and muttered something about not wanting to go home yet, which made her smile.

"Come on lazy. Bobby's done and we can actually go home and sleep."

"Mmmm, your place ... bigger bed." he grumbled as he sat up a bit more. Stretching, he opened his eyes and looked at her, noting how dull her eyes were. She'd removed the green contacts at some point. "Bad one?"

"Yeah, but we're done." She glanced at the sole window to see it was quite light out. "Here comes Bobby now."

The door swung open as if on cue. "Dr. Geofferies is going to be escorted back to his apartment to catch a few hours sleep then returned here to have a little discussion with the Official." Hobbes stifled a yawn and rubbed his face in his hands. "You two get outta here. Eberts and I will make sure the reports are on his desk and then I'm gonna go crash for a few hours myself."

Alyx pushed herself slowly to her feet. Movement was enough to send shooting pains through her head. "I'll be in later ... maybe."

"Kid, you did a g...."

"Don't you dare tell me I did a good job, Bobby Hobbes." Alyx snapped in irritation. There was very little left to her temper at the moment.

"All right, you lost me on this one." Hobbes was honestly confused. She had done good work and he wanted her to know that.

Alyx glanced at Darien who looked just as bemused at his partner. "You guys don't get it do you?"

"How about explaining it to us slower ones." Darien muttered as he got to his feet. Sleeping sitting up on three of the Agency's harder chairs was just not the fun experience he'd imagined it would be. Hopefully a hot shower would take care of the worst of the aches and pains.

She sighed and rubbed her forehead. "I did all that..." She waved a hand vaguely about to encompass the last several days. "...for nothing."

"Nothing? Kid, you sure you were working the same job as us?" Hobbes asked, no more enlightened than he had been moments earlier.

"Yeah, Hobbes," she sneered. "I'm damn sure." She shook her head. "Look, no one's dead, the project is still intact, and we dragged Kirkland through this hell for _nothing_." she hissed, her anger and outrage getting the better of her. "I've spent the last several days insinuating myself into his life, doing things that I am going to hate myself over for a long time to come and why? Because the right hand didn't want the left to know what it was doing."

"I know it seems that way, but..."

She rolled right over the top of him again. "Seems that way? Bobby, we were on a bloody snipe hunt. The Fish is probably gonna use the info to blackmail someone into a temp budget boost." When she sensed she was getting through to neither man, she sighed. "I'm going home."

"Alyx, you sure you're okay to drive?" Darien asked softly, betting she was feeling beyond crappy at this point.

"I'll be fine, thanks." she replied in a tight voice and pushed past Bobby.

"She's right, you know. All we did was learn it was a cover up within the military. One upsmanship on a grand scale."

"Damn. Yeah, it is in some ways, but it was still the job. Which we completed successfully, I might add. The kid, should be happy with that." Hobbes complained as the pair left the room. Hobbes to fill out reports with Eberts and Darien to his car to head home.

"Hobbes, what happens now ... with Maddy that is?" Darien asked, pausing to lean against the wall and yawn.

"She vanishes, of course, she — Maddy — ain't real, Fawkes." Hobbes answered, not quite sure of the point.

"And how do you think Geofferies is gonna handle that? Think he's just gonna not call or go looking for her?" Darien didn't give Hobbes a chance to reply and began walking away. "As usual the fat man saw only the goal, not the price to be paid to get to it."

Hobbes watched his partner go through the double doors at the end of the hall and sighed. "Crap."


	11. Chapter 11

***

December Continued

Darien pushed the buzzer for the door with his elbow; a huge pizza carefully balanced in one hand and a six-pack of, appropriately enough, Bacardi Silver in the other. She drank some of the oddest things, in his opinion, but he was here to apologize -- again -- so he would cater to her whims. He listened to the locks disengage and put on the best smile he could manage as the door slid to the side, hoping she wouldn't just slam it shut and send him on his way.

However, it turned out she wasn't standing on the other side of the door so he poked his head in and looked about in puzzlement for her. "Alyx?"

"Come on in." she said from somewhere on the far side of the living room.

He set the peace offering on the table where a half-full glass of water and a pill bottle sat; the latter with its top still off, and sauntered further into the room. Behind him he heard the door slide shut and the locks engage under seemingly their own power. Something he found oddly reassuring. He found her on the dark green mats she used for her exercises, her body contorted into an uncomfortable looking position that seemed to involve trying to shove her foot behind her head. He leaned back against her sofa and watched, unable to be anything less than impressed. The first time they'd met he'd gotten an idea of how limber she was, that little talent hadn't changed over the months.

"That just looks painful." he commented as she repeated the movement with her other leg.

She snorted. "Gods, don't make me laugh now. Think of the consequences."

He chuckled softly, admittedly she had a point. A shift in the wrong direction and she'd be doing her version of the Thanksgiving Day wishbone. After the wish had been made. That, in turn, brought up thoughts of how far they'd come since that night, how close they'd become.

She released the leg and sat up slowly, drawing both together and folding over them, her hands wrapping about her bare feet. As she did her shirt drew up slightly and he noticed a bruise on the left side of her back. It was rather odd-looking for a bruise, a double line with the top one a bit thicker and darker than the lower, but with little bruising in between.

Moving, he crouched beside her and ran his fingers lightly over it, causing her to groan softly. "How'd you get this?" he asked when she turned her head to look at him.

"You did it." she answered as she sat up, arching back slightly before pulling in her legs to cross them.

Darien sat down on the mat. "Me? I don't remember..."

"You slammed me into Geofferies' wall. The decorative molding left an impression on me." For all that her tone was light, he still caught the pain underneath. 

"Damn. I'm sorry about that. I was..."

"Marking your territory?" she shoved into his sentence, much as he had shoved her into the wall, perhaps realizing, far more than he, exactly how true the statement was. "Look, if you can't handle me doing the work required of me, whatever it may be, we might want to end this here and now." She pushed herself to her feet and moved to the end of the mat, making it obvious she wanted him off it.

He slid to the side so that he was now sitting on the wood floor and watched with hooded eyes as she folded the mat and put it away. She had a point, much as he hated to admit it. It had been bad enough before they had gotten together, but now...now it was worse. He wanted her all for himself, all day, every day ad infinitum, even though the rational part of him knew that could never happen, that she had other commitments, other duties. Hell, that she just wanted time to herself on occasion. He wasn't sure what to do about the situation, other than he was not about to give up on her, on them.

As she was about to walk past him he reached out and lightly grasped her calf, the smooth silk cloth covering it an almost sensual experience to feel and reminding him of why he liked being with her. Just looking at her was often a sensual experience; she was capable of such simple pleasures and she was quite often more than willing to share them, even if there were few, as yet, willing to take her up on those shared experiences.

"Yes?" she queried after a moment. She could feel him trying to sort out his thoughts, trying to put words to things that were far more easily felt than explained.

"I'm not ready to give up on _us_, are you?" His hands slid gently back and forth across the muscle, feeling it tighten and flex as she began to roll back and forth on the balls of her feet.

"I'm not sure." At her words his hand dropped away and she finally felt free to step away. The scent of the pizza he'd brought had been making her stomach growl and reminding her she'd not fed it since the dinner nearly twenty-four hours ago at Geofferies.

By the time she'd made it home from the Agency the headache had been so bad she'd nearly been in tears. She'd managed to down a couple of her stronger meds, kick off her shoes and collapse onto her sofa, where she proceeded to sleep for six hours straight. Her body demanding she recover from the physical and mental torture she'd put it through recently. Since waking she'd already spoken to Bobby, Eberts and the Official on varying matters involving the wrap up of this case and right now was not really in the mood to deal with her reluctance to remain in this relationship with Darien.

"Not sure? What is that supposed to mean?" He got up and walked over to where she was standing, almost, but not quite touching her. Wanting to wrap his arms about her and apologize until she believed him.

"I know you're sorry about what happened, but that doesn't change the fact that it did. Or that it probably will again." She opened the pizza box, smiling slightly as she realized that he'd picked her preferred toppings and not his. Well, except for a token one for himself, ham. "I'm having a hard enough time dealing with the fact the Official all but owns me, I won't let you think the same."

Darien was confused. "Own you? I don't own you."

Switching targets to the alcohol he'd been generous enough to provide, she pulled out two and removed the caps, knowing they were both going to need some to get through this discussion. "Dare, part of you sees it that way. Sees me that way, as your possession. I can feel it." She turned about and handed him one bottle while she took a large swallow from the one she kept a hold of. She was almost surprised to see Darien and not some superimposed image her mind had dredged up.

He sighed and drank some of his own. It wasn't half bad, but he'd still rather have a real beer in his hand. "Okay, I guess I do feel a bit possessive over you. Thinking you're my girl and all, it ain't that odd is it?"

Alyx shook her head unsure how to explain it to him without telling him anything of importance, anything that would cause more memories to resurface, to cause her to see _him_ again instead of the sweet man currently standing before her. "I guess I just need some space." She had trouble meeting his eyes and tried to cover it by downing more of the Silver.

"You wanna break up? After only a couple weeks?" Darien was shocked and upset and it showed on his features and in his voice.

"I warned you I wasn't ready." she grumbled and tried to slip away, but he wouldn't let her, one hand coming up to rest against her cheek and stopping her cold.

"Bullshit." he growled in frustration. He set down his bottle and then plucked hers from her hand and placed it beside his. Ignoring her tissue-thin protests he repeated, "Bullshit." and kissed her.

Alyx groaned half in frustration equal to his and half in desire. It was so unfair, all he had to do was look at her some days and her insides would turn to goo and the room would suddenly feel far warmer than it should. The things that would happen, be it crappy moods or lust sparked QSM, no longer mattered. How _he _felt about her in all its unadorned and testosterone-enhanced glory right at that very infinite-seeming moment was all that she could feel and all that she wanted to for a long time to come.

When he just about demanded to be allowed past her lips she found herself unable and unwilling to resist, and he dove right on in. Their tongues jostling for dominance and making him growl in unrestrained pleasure. Pleasure she did not need to rely upon to fuel her own, which was quickly becoming a bit of an issue for her as she once again discovered how easily her resolve could and would crumble when with him. 

It was Darien who broke off the kiss as a sudden flood of emotions washed across him; emotions he _knew_ weren't his. "Baby, you okay?" he asked at a husky whisper. He was actually rather surprised that he was still all there, his heart was pounding right along with his desire and if she hadn't noticed the physical results... Little chance of that happening, given that they were still pressed against one another, hands still roving, and lips -- hers anyway -- still seeking and finding flesh to taste. 

She was currently discovering the hollow of his throat was very sensitive while her hands made their way under his T-shirt to slide along his abdomen and ribs. At some point she'd ended up sitting on the table with her legs wrapping about his and drawing him right up against her. "Sweet thing, slow down for a sec."

Alyx had been so caught up in just _feeling_ that she'd completely forgotten that she'd basically just told him she didn't want to see him any more, not like this anyway. "Ah, hell." she muttered, resting her forehead against his chest and forcing herself to get back under some vague sort of control. She hated that she still lost her touch control even after all this time. "You cheat, you know that?"

He laughed softly. "Yeah, I know. Now, you gonna try and tell me you want to walk away from this?" The fingers of one hand began to draw circles on the back of her neck making her shiver and damn near purr in reaction.

"No, I can't tell you that." she admitted with great reluctance. "But I do need ... more space, time to think things through a bit better." She looked up at him and saw the frown that adorned his features. "Darien, if we go through with this I want it to be for the right reasons, not just because of mutual attraction due to the close situation. It's not like either of us have a lot of opportunities outside of the Agency."

"You could." Darien said softly even though it was difficult for him to say the words aloud. "Geoff... Kirkland really likes you. There's nothing really stopping you from..."

"Darien," She slipped her hands out from under his shirt, their ardor having cooled dramatically in the last few seconds. "He doesn't like _me_, he likes Maddy, who after tomorrow won't exist." She shifted back a bit and retrieved the bottles, passing him his and watching him gulp down a fair portion as he took a small step back.

"You could tell him the truth." he suggested in a voice that was low and sad. "Seriously, he's smart, he's good-looking, he could probably get clearance if needed. What's not to like?" When she didn't say a word, just watched him with a blank look, he added, "With choices of a thief or a guy like him... even I can figure out which is the better one for you."

Alyx shook her head, momentarily at a total loss for words. "Okay, not fifteen minutes ago you were bitching about me 'breaking up' with you and now you're practically throwing me at Kirkland. Could you pick one and run with it, please?"

Darien snorted, knowing he'd done exactly that, but wasn't quite sure why. Maybe it was that if she had a chance at a real relationship, a normal relationship, he wouldn't stop her.

"Ever think I might not like Kirkland that way?" She was sorely tempted to ask him if he was thinking at all, but held onto her swiftly fraying temper. "Bub, how the hell would I explain to him that _I_ was the reason he got dragged into the Agency? That _I_ was using him to get the information the 'Fish wanted. That_ I _was the one giving Bobby everything that was needed to break him? Do you really think he'd forgive me? Could you?"

"Alyx, if he really cares then, yeah, he'd probably forgive you in a heartbeat." Darien told her in all honesty, knowing he would if the situation was reversed.

She closed her eyes, wanting to hurt him for using emotional logic at her. "Darien, I don't want to be with him. Do you get that?" He just stared at her as if she had lost her mind. "He's a nice guy and he'd be a hell of a lot of fun to talk to, but that's it. I was never attracted to him _that_ way. I had to cheat to get through it; used his emotions to cover the fact I wasn't interested. He was the _job_ and nothing more."

Darien blinked at her and then finished off the bottle before he found himself able to speak and even then didn't manage more than one solitary word. "Really?"

"Really. When you guys finally broke in I was desperately trying to figure out how to get out of the situation without losing more clothes or hurting him. He damn near got flung into a wall a couple of times." Alyx told him as she removed the empty from his hand and replaced it with a full one.

"What happened, Alyx? Why'd you freak so badly that you tried to ... disappear?" Neither he nor Bobby had come up with a rational explanation for that so he'd decided to ask her.

"I..." For an instant she wanted to trust him, to tell him the truth, everything about her past, why she'd been sleeping so poorly, the so-called dizzy spells, but her distrust surged back to the surface with the force of a tidal wave breaking upon a populated shore. Sweeping away everything in its path and wiping the beach clean of everything that had been built upon it in recent months. "You've been with the Agency for, what, two years?"

"About that, why?"

"I've only been here a few months and you have no idea how different this life is from the one I knew. I need time, Darien." She could only hope he'd understand and not press for answers she was dead set against giving him.

"Not the 'Fish thing again? I thought we'd dealt with that?" he complained, very tired of hearing the same excuse over and over again.

But she surprised him by shaking her head. "This is about me. I may not be the person I was before, but I still don't know who I am. Can you try and understand that?"

He shook his head, not sure he had ever understood anything she had ever said at this point. "Explain it to me."

She growled in hastily reigned in irritation, realizing he had no way of comprehending how very different she was from her former self. "Every one of you sees me as something different. To the 'Fish I'm like a prize catch, but an illegal one, so he tries to hide me even as he uses me. Eberts and the Keep aren't quite sure yet, but both feel more than a bit sorry for me, knowing that this was never a choice I made and that I'm trying to deal with it as best I can.

"Bobby... Bobby doesn't know what to think. He hates that I've been shoved into the perfect little set-up the three of you had. He thinks I'm messing with the sync you guys had worked out. Knocking you out of your groove. He's right, of course, but that's not really my fault. He's just beginning to appreciate my abilities even as they drive him to double his meds. He's a nice man and great agent, but he doesn't really see _me_, just my skills. I'm not a person to him yet, just another tool." Alyx sighed deeply and took another sip from the bottle, her throat suddenly dry.

"And me? How do you think I see you?" Darien asked softly, curious as to just how much she'd been picking up from him.

"Lets just say glass enclosed pedestals are great for trophies and not for people." 

Darien gaped, wanting to deny that her interpretation of his feelings for her, no matter that they were greatly over-simplified, was even vaguely accurate. And couldn't.

"Dare, I feel like I'm being pulled in dozens of directions at once. Even strangers have their own perception of me that I often pick up on. I need time to weed through all the crap and find _me_." her voice was softly pleading by the last sentence, needing him to try to understand. To understand that what she was going through had very little to do with him, though he was most definitely the instigator, and everything to do with her.

Darien studied her for a long moment, thinking about what she had said. He did understand, at least a little; it had taken him a long time to become even vaguely comfortable in his new role as a secret agent, never mind as the invisible man. Everyone at the Agency wanting him to change to fit his or her preconceived notion of how he should act and should behave.

Hell, there were days he still hated it, still resisted changing to suit the whims of others, at one point he would have been willing to trade it for a stint back in prison, but not now. Not since she'd shown up on their proverbial doorstep and turned their lives upside down. She'd been just about the only one who hadn't placed demands on him, hadn't tried to pigeonhole him into some ill-fitting idea of what she thought he should be.

Things were just beginning to settle back out, to return to something resembling normal. If normal could ever be applied to his life in general or the Agency in particular. Different, but far more relaxed and comfortable, no longer the sensation of it being ill fitting like it had been at first. Even Hobbes was finally adjusting to her presence, working with her instead of just dealing with her.

"All right, but I'm not giving up on us." When she tried to argue he closed the distance between them and pressed a finger to her lips, cutting off her flow of words before they even began. "Sweets you just about melt every time I get near you. There's gotta be a reason for it."

"How about I plea insanity, or better yet, the fifth?" she responded with a shy smile. 

"I can think of some pleas I'd much rather hear from you." He wrapped a hand about her neck and lowered his face down near hers, breathing in her scent, his lips finding that sensitive spot beneath her ear and making her groan softly. 

"Really? Like what?" she mumbled as his other hand went exploring, causing her to growl deep in her throat and arch into his hand. This was not some false reaction done for the job; this was about as real as it got and for the moment she just let it happen. 

"Like that." he replied even though she'd not said anything aloud, what she wanted, what she was pleading for had come through loud and clear. He was about to continue his explorations in more detail in hopes of extracting more silent pleas from her when he felt his left leg do a disappearing act. Instead of backing away he simply moved his hand upward, eliciting a moan of complaint from her and cupped her face. He kissed her gently and then spoke softly. "I need to go."

Her eyes snapped open and she looked up at him in surprise. "Go? Did I do something wrong?" 

Surprised at her sudden insecurity he shook his head. "Not at all. I thought you needed some time, remember?"

She stuck out her tongue at him and he reacted by quickly capturing it between his teeth and turning the play into a very thorough kiss that left both of them gulping for air when they broke apart. "I remember, and I do need the space." she agreed when she could talk coherently.

"I know. Its okay, just try to remember I'm still here. Anything you need." This time he did step back and she was forced to stifle a laugh at his lack of appendages. 

"Stay for dinner at least, since you went to all the trouble." she offered as she slipped off the table and turned about to gesture at the swiftly cooling pizza.

"You sure?" he asked, not wanting to stay if she wanted some peace and quiet. The quicksilver flaked away then, hitting the wooden floor with and almost musical sound.

"Yes, I'm sure. I'll get plates, you find something boring to watch. I'd say you've had more than enough excitement for one evening." She moved about him and into the kitchen. "Darien, thanks."

"You're welcome. Now hurry, I'm starved."

"Kid, are you sure you want to do this?" Hobbes sat on the floor of the van, the side door open as he leaned against the frame, his dark glasses reflecting her twinned image back at her.

"Bobby, you've asked me that exactly fifteen times and I've given you the exact same answer every time. Hell, I invited you along so you'd be able to tell the 'Fish that Geofferies won't cause any trouble looking for me." she snapped in exasperation.

"I know, kid, but I'm telling ya this is not a smart idea." Hobbes reiterated, wanting to be sure she knew what she was getting into by taking this possibly risky step.

Alyx brought a hand up to pinch the bridge of her nose, trying to resist the temptation to pound some sense into that thick skull of his. She knew he was only trying to help, to make sure she understood the potential hazards, to protect her in his unique and paranoid way.

None of that mattered though.

"I damn well know its not a smart idea, in fact it'll probably go down as one of the stupider moves I make in my career at the Agency. However, it's still the _right_ thing to do." With that she turned away, easily overhearing Hobbes' quite comment as she walked off.

"Yeah kid, it is."

Alyx headed for the decorative bridge that ran over the equally decorative stream filled with Koi in the very public park across the street from Thornton's to meet Geofferies. He had wanted to meet her privately, but she had refused and chosen this park because they both knew its location and because it would be filled with people and hopefully keep some nasty scene from happening. She didn't want to hurt him any more than necessary.

She found him standing at the peak of the bridge's arch and looking over the side at the fish swimming lazily in the water below. She sidled up next to him, keeping a good foot of space between them. "Hey,"

"Maddy," He drew her into a hug, holding onto her tightly for an instant before releasing her and looking her over. "You're all right? They left you alone?"

"I'm fine. They took me home and sat outside my place all night, but they left me alone." She looked him in the eyes, seeing the worry there, seeing the hope there, and hating herself for what she was about to do even though it had to be done.

"Come on, we'll talk over lunch." He reached for her hand, but she stood there motionless. "Maddy, I'm sorry about what happened. Please, can we just talk things out?"

She shook her head. "There's nothing to talk about. I like you Kirk, I really do, but this won't work."

"Don't say that." he said in such a pitiful tone that Alyx nearly caved just to see him smile again.

"Kirk, if we stay together this will just happen again and next time it may not turn out so well." Alyx explained in a soft voice tinged with real regret. "Thanks to my _father_ any relationship we have would be scrutinized. Any little thing that happened with your work would bring up the fact my father is a complete bastard and it taints me by association." She could feel what he was going through, the warring emotions of his personal needs and wants versus the necessities demanded of him for his work. "What you're doing is too important to throw away over a woman you barely know, and if you would take a minute to really think about that you'll realize its true."

He turned away from her and spent more than just a minute staring blindly at the water below him. "You're right, but I don't like it."

Alyx chuckled lightly. "You think I do? I've been fighting to get out from under my father's thumb for years, trying to disassociate my life from his, with little success as you have just experienced." She softened her voice, hurt creeping into it. "I'm so sorry for all of this. If we'd never met maybe none of this would have happened."

"No, Maddy, its not your fault. Not even my fault really, unless you count my sometimes being too smart for my own good." He slumped down and turned his head to look her in the eye. "I don't want it to be over." he stated simply.

"I know, but it has to be. For now anyway. As long as we are who we are it can't work." She set a hand on his shoulder offering what little comfort she could and hoping he'd understand.

"Yeah. Maybe ... maybe in the future?" That hope was back, though well hidden behind the resignation.

"Maybe." She stepped closer allowing him to wrap an arm about her. "I'm leaving and I don't know when I'll be back."

"Leaving?" he asked with such despair in his voice that Alyx knew he was going to be terribly hurt by this. She'd done her job too well and Kirkland had gone and fallen for her. "Where?"

She shrugged. "Not sure yet. Maybe Europe. I haven't been there in few years." She tried to ease his hurt. "This is not because of you. I am not running from you. I need to separate my life from my father's and you need time to get the feds off your back. Understand?"

It took a couple minutes, but he eventually nodded. "Call me when you get back, okay?"

"I will." Alyx told him and wondered if she'd ever follow up on that. Who knew where she'd be or what she'd be doing in six months. "It's been a distinct pleasure, Kirkland."

He groaned and pulled her in close. "That it has been." He kissed her lightly, a farewell to what might have been. She could feel that he knew this was probably the end, that even if she did contact him, a few months or years down the road, things would have changed, perhaps too much for them to pick up where they had left off. "Be well, Madigan."

And with that he turned and walked away. Leaving Alyx standing on the bridge alone.

Darien squinted his eyes, trying to get a better look at Hobbes who was hidden in the shadowy interior of the van. It looked like he might be holding the parabolic mic, but Darien couldn't be sure due to the crappy angle and the distance. Fifty feet through trees and people strolling by just didn't offer the necessary line of sight view that was needed.

He'd tailed Hobbes after overhearing an argument between him and Alyx in the hallway outside the office they shared. Had heard Hobbes trying to dissuade her from meeting Geofferies and her invite to play chaperone in words that just dripped sarcasm. Since it was a good bet that neither of them were about to run off and inform Darien of this little tete-a-tete he'd decided to tag along.

At first the tried to rationalize that it was simply because he wanted to make sure she was safe, provide another layer of back up in case something happened. But in truth he wanted to make sure she hadn't changed her mind and decided to tell Geofferies the truth, maybe start seeing him after hours now that she was no longer going to be seeing himself as often.

He'd gone and agreed to stop coming by her place so often. Agreed to start hanging out more with Hobbes like he used to, and agreed to give her the space she felt she needed. It wasn't like she was leaving or anything, right? Now, he wasn't so sure.

Searching about he was unable to spot her and figured he might as well find out what was going on by asking the one person he could locate. Making his way through the small stand of trees and the crowd walking along the sidewalk separating the perfectly manicured grass from the road he came at the van from the rear. Popping his head into the doorway he waved. "Hey, partner, what's up?"

Hobbes twitched and had to resist the sudden urge to draw and fire. Shifting the headset off one ear, he glared at the taller man as he settled on the edge of the van's doorway, almost as if unsure of his welcome. It didn't take much to figure out why he was here. "Eavesdropping again were ya?"

Darien shrugged. "Is it my fault you two go at it at full volume in the hallway?"

Hobbes snorted. "Guess not." Not about to give away anything more, he waited while Darien slowly began to squirm. Oh, it was nothing the average person would notice, but Hobbes saw all the signs of an impending attack of whining if he didn't offer up the intel soon. "The bridge, Fawkes." He waved straight ahead where the T for the path led to the oriental styled bridge.

Darien looked that way and could easily make out that red hair of hers, with Geofferies standing on the far side of her. "What's going on, Hobbes?"

With a sigh Hobbes dropped the headphones about his neck and flipped the switch on the speaker, He'd been recording it just like she'd requested. Proof for the Official.

"Don't say that." came out of the crappy speakers, sounding as if it was from the bottom of a deep metal-lined well. They both recognized Geofferies voice.

"Kirk, if we stay together this will just happen again and next time it may not turn out so well." That was Alyx. Darien could hear the emotion in her voice and had to wonder if it was just amazingly well faked or real. During his musing he missed some of the conversation.

"You're right, but I don't like it." Geofferies was saying.

He heard Alyx chuckle lightly. "You think I do? I've been fighting to get out from under my father's thumb for years, trying to disassociate my life from his, with little success as you have just experienced." She softened her voice, hurt creeping into it. "I'm so sorry for all of this. If we'd never met maybe none of this would have happened."

It was amazing how she could take the truth and use it to her advantage.

"No, Maddy, its not your fault. Not even my fault really, unless you count my sometimes being too smart for my own good." Geofferies said to her, then his tone changed becoming filled with sadness. I don't want it to be over."

"I know, but it has to be. For now anyway. As long as we are who we are it can't work." Alyx responded, her tone seemingly filled with regret.

Darien watched the couple on the bridge, no longer really hearing the rest of the conversation. After a minute he turned to face Hobbes who was eyeing him carefully. "Hobbes, why is she doing this?"

"That's a good fricking question, my friend." Hobbes turned the volume down, but not off, he still wanted to keep an ear on what was going on. "The guy was innocent, just the schmuck who happened to have the answers. According to her and the background data Eberts got, he's a good guy." He paused and scratched his neck where the headset was irritating him. "I guess she wanted to end it right instead of just vanishing."

Darien shook his head, not really understanding why she'd go the extra mile for a perfect stranger she'd probably never see again no matter what she might say to him. 

Hobbes nodded at the pair. Geofferies walking away and leaving Alyx alone to lean on the railing until Geofferies was well out of sight. "Bobby, I'm gonna take a walk and then head home. Page me if I'm needed." She strolled off, her hands buried in her coat pockets, and her head tipped down. Darien could tell by her posture she was upset and wasn't quite sure how he felt about that.

"Fawkes, you're sitting there like she gave you the same lines. Let her give Geofferies what little resolution she can. Come tomorrow who is it that's gonna be seeing her?" Hobbes waved at the now empty bridge. "Not him, that's for sure."

Darien met Hobbes' eyes and nodded. "True enough, but I still gotta wonder if she _wants_ to."


	12. Chapter 12

***

January

__

Sheldon Kopp once observed, "All of the significant battles are waged within the self." 

I've fought a few myself over the years, especially since that there femme-fatale of a gland took up residence in the back of my skull. I've won a few and I've lost a few, but for the most part the battles have been to a draw. Mainly thanks to the counteragent and the friends I've made here at the Agency. Though I have to say that I've learned that no matter how much a bad-boy I thought I was, it ain't nothing compared to what I could be. And to not become that ... That's a battle I'll fight every day of my life.

But who knows if I'll win.

"Oh, my," Claire said with a small laugh as they exited the ride. "I haven't done anything like that since I visited Blackpool Pleasure Beach as a child."

"I told ya it'd be fun, Keepy." Darien reminded her with a grin. It wasn't often they got to see Claire the person as opposed to the straight-laced Keeper she spent so much of her days being. It was a very pleasant change.

"All right, Fawkes, fess up. How much of you went see-thru on that there thrill ride?" Hobbes teased and was rewarded with a deep red blush that stained his friend's cheeks.

"Lets just say it was a damn good thing I had the car to myself, okay?" Darien admitted with great reluctance, fully expecting the ribbing to continue for some time to come. It wasn't all that long ago that he'd have gone nowhere near that ride for fear he'd vanish completely.

Claire looked from Bobby, who had ridden beside her on the Giant Dipper coaster, and then back at Darien. "Well, we certainly couldn't tell, could we?" She elbowed Bobby in the ribs with enough force to make him grunt and rub the spot in reaction.

"Nah, just figured you and that heart-thumper of a ride would get into a bit of conflict. You been practicing or something? Sneaking out at night to ride the Tilt-a-Whirl after hours?" Hobbes asked in honest curiosity. None of them knew exactly how much control he could actually master. Some things would always be involuntary where the gland was concerned, which could and had saved Fawkes' life on more than one occasion. 

Darien just ducked his head and refused to meet their eyes.

"Perhaps its simply nothing more than being exposed to a wider variety of situations." Claire suggested hastily, hoping to deflect Bobby from looking too deeply into his partner's sudden increase in control.

"And Alyx has taught me a few things." Darien explained in a soft voice, not about to go into some of the details, as they would result in, yet another, argument over 'company pier' issues. 

"I just bet she has." Hobbes sneered, regretting it almost immediately as Darien glared at him and Claire frowned slightly.

"The bio-feedback technique she uses?" Claire interjected, knowing, even though neither Darien nor Alyx had told her, that some of his newfound control was due to their getting better acquainted with one another. "She's perfect to teach you that, as well as more in-depth meditation techniques. She's a remarkably patient teacher."

"Yeah, she is." Darien agreed, as Alyx had indeed offered to help and shown him a few things in the last couple of months. Still, his involuntary control was nowhere near as good as he'd like it to be and he had the feeling he wasn't going to get much better.

"What's she been doing lately? Seems she books it the second we're done these days." Hobbes led the way past the midway games heading for the spot they'd staked out earlier.

"I'm not sure." Claire answered. "She's does some research down in the Keep when she has a free moment, she's still taking those courses the Official assigned her and she assists you two with cases." Claire frowned slightly when she realized she had no idea what Alyx did when _not_ working. She turned to the one person who might know. "Darien?"

He shrugged. "Got me, last time I had a free hour to see her after work was over a week ago. After that dockyard mess. I helped her get human again." 

Poor Alyx had ended up taking an unexpected swim in the bay with a pair of perps that were being stubborn about coming in. She'd still been sopping wet and had begun shivering by the time things had been dealt with back at the Agency and they'd been freed to go home. Though her dripping all over the Official's desk, including leaving him a gift of fresh seaweed, had been a warped sort of victory for her.

He'd gotten her home and cooked her dinner while she had taken a hot shower and tried to get warm. The cold water of the bay combined with the late December temperatures had left her shivering for a good hour even after she'd cleaned up and dressed. He had ended up putting her to bed after she'd fallen asleep on the sofa with her head resting on his thighs. Which made for an interesting change, as it was usually him falling asleep on her and not the other way around. 

He'd stuck around for another hour or so, cleaning up a bit and then let himself out. That had been the longest they'd spent together since he agreed to back off and give her space. Between work and the Holidays things had been crazier than Hobbes off his meds. Working twelve plus hours had become the norm and it was beginning wear them all down, including Claire. She might not head out into the field very often, but that didn't mean she wasn't working. In fact she often had to stay late at the Agency until the agents' work was done in case one or more of them needed help, be it counteragent, pain meds for new bruises, or, in one case recently, stitches for a run in with a razor wire fence. She'd just removed them from Bobby's calf the day before.

"We need a fricking break." Hobbes complained and tried not to yawn. Another fifteen minutes or so and they'd all probably head for home and try and get some extra sleep as the Official had given them New Year's Day off, much to their astonishment.

"No shit." Darien agreed.

"It has been unusually busy." Claire commented as they passed by a vendor selling cotton candy on huge paper cones. She watched in amusement as Darien detoured and caught up with them a few minutes later with a huge pile of pink fluff balanced precariously in his hand. He had a look of pure pleasure on his face as he tore off strands and popped them into his mouth to dissolve into liquid sugar. "Why didn't you invite her along tonight?"

Darien's hand paused halfway to his mouth with another cotton-ball-sized lump of confection between his fingers. He didn't want to answer the question since Claire would quickly figure out something other than too much work was going on where he and Alyx were concerned.

"Never crossed my mind." Hobbes responded. "Guess I figured she wouldn't be interested."

"Or that you thought she'd be in the way." Claire saw Hobbes wince slightly and knew that she was at least partially correct. 

"Huh." Darien grunted at Hobbes words. 

"What, Fawkes?" Hobbes asked, slowing as they neared the quiet spot they'd picked to watch the light show to come.

"Just remembering something, is all." He gestured with the well-denuded cone of spun sugar. "Any resolutions planned for you two?"

"None that you need to know about, wise-ass." Hobbes grinned. The speakers set up along the boardwalk began the familiar countdown.

"Three...Two...One...Happy New Year." the entire crowd shouted at the first of the fireworks lit up the sky.

Claire leaned over and kissed Bobby on the cheek. "Happy New Year, Bobby. Happy New Year, Darien."

"What? No kiss for me?" Darien mock complained.

"You're all sticky." Claire said with a laugh.

From the speakers then came the traditional Auld Lang Syne and Darien found himself singing along quietly as he watched the fireworks launch into the sky and burst into unique shapes and colors.

Alyx looked out across the city from the rooftop of her apartment building. She was sitting on the waist high ledge than ran about it, drinking champagne from the bottle, and watching three different fireworks displays as she softly sang the final lines to Auld Lang Syne. "We'll tak' a cup o' kindness yet, For auld lang syne." When she the lyrics finished she downed another swallow of the drink and raised the bottle as if in toast, wishing that she was capable of actually getting drunk. At the very least being able to pickle herself might allow her to sleep undisturbed by the dreams for the first time in weeks. "So what do I want to resolve to do this year?"

A difficult question at best, considering this time last year she'd resolved to divorce her husband of ten years and get herself and the kids as far away from him as humanly possible. She snorted in dark humor. Well, _she_ had managed to get away anyhow, even though she'd had to "die" to do it. Her kids, however, were still with the son of a bitch. 

The Official had assured her they were fine and would come to no harm; part of her agreement with him now included monthly reports on their well being. The neatly typed reports were always painful to read, but a necessity. The Official apparently not knowing or perhaps not caring that he ... that Jess used to beat her.

If there were the slightest sign Jess had decided to make the kids a target of his anger, of his need to control those about him, she wouldn't even ask permission. She'd be on a plane and on her way to rescue them and to hell with the Official and the Agency. It was only the reports made by the housekeeper the Agency had finagled into the home, and Eberts' personal assurances that kept her here.

A burst of brilliant red light to the north caught her eye and she admired the artistic flower that decorated the night sky for several minutes as it sparkled, dropped and then faded. It was a shame they were so ephemeral. Their beauty only lasting mere moments, but in that time giving so many people a tiny bit of joy. 

She shook her head, the alcohol making her moody and more depressed than usual tonight. "Hmm, how about to try and live for the moment? Or maybe to be more trusting of other people?" That made her laugh aloud, her voice echoing hollowly off the building across the street, the sound harsh and derisive. 

"Can't even trust myself half the time." she muttered bleakly as she rubbed the side of her face absently. "Okay, how about this? I resolve to learn how to live again, to learn who I am, and what I can be. To take the time to smell the roses no matter how many thorns bar my way. To appreciate what I do have even when it seems like I've lost everything. To see things for who or what they are and no more. To look to the future and the possibilities that lie ahead instead of mourning a past I can't change." She paused; contemplating a few others that floated to the surface of her mind, but in the end remained silent. Those she had spoken aloud were going to be hard enough to live up to without adding even more.

Lifting the bottle to eye level she tried to gauge the amount remaining only to discover she was down to the last quarter. With a small frown of disappointment she drank it all and then set the bottle down beside her. "Happy New Year, kids. May you get all you hope for."

Her eyesight blurred then as the tears she been holding back most of the evening finally overflowed and ran down her cheeks to fall off her chin to eventually splash onto the ground several stories below.

The door to the keep slid open with its Star Trekian whoosh and Darien staggered in with a groan. "Keep, you in here?"

Claire appeared from the far side of the lab, folding the glass divider that had been extended to block the view of anyone who might come in unexpectedly. "Darien...Oh my, what happened?" She went to his side and helped him limp over to the exam chair. 

He was a mess, his shirt torn and dirty, the collar bloody due to still flowing tide that ran down his across his chin from his nose, and his hair was filled with leaves and twigs. He groaned as he sat down on the chair, his backside more than a little tender at the moment. "Hobbes happened." he snapped.

Claire grabbed some antiseptic and gauze motioned for him to remove his shirt. She tsked at the number of scrapes revealed. Pouring a generous amount of the liquid on a section of gauze, her nose wrinkling at the harsh scent, she proceeded to clean one of the nastier looking ones causing Darien to suck in a breath as it stung.

"Here." another voice said, almost making him jump out of his skin. Alyx was suddenly at his other side holding out a damp cloth. "You're bleeding all over the place."

He yelped as Claire hit another spot that hurt like the dickens, but took the cloth and made a gingerly attempt to wipe the blood away. "Thanks." he mumbled through the material. Damn his nose hurt, and he could only hope it wasn't broken.

"Alyx would you..." Claire glanced at Alyx who nodded.

"Just call me a portable X-ray machine." She took the cloth from Darien's unresisting hold and gently ran her fingers down his nose; her eyes closed, and head tipped slightly to one side. This was one of her newer tricks and Claire had been helping her improve her skill at discerning internal injuries by the way they _felt_. She was turning out to be amazingly accurate much to Claire's disconcerted surprise.

At first Darien wanted to bat her hand away not wanting anyone to touch the tender proboscis, but her touch was so light that it nearly tickled instead of causing even the slightest twinge of pain.

"Hmm, not broken at least, but several blood vessels are a mess. As I am sure you are aware." She opened her eyes and stepped away to return a few seconds later with an ice pack that she quickly activated by breaking the inner seal to mix the chemicals. Setting it gently to his face she gave him a tired smile. "Hold that there and let it bleed out a bit more." When Darien relaxed back tipping his head up slightly she admonished him. "Head forward. Don't need you nauseous as well."

"Yes, mom." Darien sniped, then paled as Claire removed a splinter of rock from one of the deeper scrapes over his ribs. "Ow." he got out at a squeak.

"Darien, you are a bloody mess...literally. Just how did you manage this?" Claire asked as she moved onto yet another beauteous scrape that had left his skin raw and oozing blood.

"I told ya, Hobbes did it." he repeated, removing the ice pack to glare at the blonde head that was leaning over him, completely oblivious to his expression or mood, or so it seemed. "We met these guys like planned, but something went wrong and they made us." He shrugged and glanced over at Alyx who had stepped away to get more gauze for Claire as well as tape and bandages to patch up the worst of the injuries.

"And?" Alyx asked as she slid the rolling tray next to Claire and adjusted the overhead light to better reveal the damage.

"Well, Hobbes went after one and I took the other. He got his guy down and cuffed and I was holding my own..."

"Distracting him by letting him kick you around as usual?" Alyx was unable to contain the grin, but didn't let the laugh escape.

"Hey, what can I say? I do a damn good imitation of a punching bag." Darien admitted a bit ruefully. "'Course you'd have laid him out in no time flat." 

Alyx just shook her head, not wanting to argue with him about her fighting skills. She been practicing for years before coming here and her time with the Agency had honed and refined those skills until she had become nearly Bobby's equal, whereas Darien still relied on the basic street fighting techniques he'd learned growing up and while in prison. She carefully cleaned the last of the blood off his face, relieved to see that the flow had stopped for now. Taking his hand still holding the ice pack, she moved it back into place. Hopefully his nose wouldn't swell too badly.

Claire directed him to lean forward so she could check his back, which had a few scrapes as well, though none quite as bad as those on his chest. "Darien, the last thing you should be doing is playing target. You still have bruises from the last time."

"Keep, believe me, being a target was never high on my list of things to be when I grew up." He shifted slightly, her ministrations making his eyes tear up in reaction. "So, Hobbes finished with his guy, leaving him neatly wrapped up like a Christmas present, and charged over to give me an assist. I had the jerk in close trying to just hold 'im till Hobbes could get there, and what does he do? Hauls off with some fancy chop or whatever that the guy sees coming from a mile away and squirms out of the way so that _I_ get nailed with it."

"Oh, dear. Bobby did the damage to your nose?" Claire asked as she straightened, the worst of the mess finally cleaned up and bandaged.

"Yeah. Mr. Haymaker also introduced me to the lovely scenery." Darien grumbled, still angry with his partner. "Knocked me right down the nice steep, rock covered, thorn bearing, hillside until I found myself lying against a large rock, having conveniently been stopped by my ass colliding with it, and wondering why the stars were out in the middle of the afternoon." His scowl deepened as he saw the both women trying desperately not to laugh. "No sympathy, not a drop from any of you." 

"Darien, that's not true and you know it. I'm sorry I wasn't there to help, but as usual the 'Fish decreed my skills were needed elsewhere." Alyx's smile had faded as she spoke, until the, far more familiar as of late, look of sadness and exhaustion returned.

He dropped the ice pack onto his lap and reached out to her, setting a chilly hand on her shoulder. "Damn, I'm not mad at you, either of you, just bitching in general." He glanced over at Claire who was busily cleaning up, tossing the bloodied gauze into the biohazard container for proper disposal in the incinerator. 

Claire nodded and went to the cooler where the counteragent was stored. Today it wasn't needed, only three segments of the snake tattoo were red. She returned with a bottle of water, which she handed to Darien who thanked her in a quiet voice.

"Where is Bobby anyway?" Claire asked.

Alyx chuckled, going to the door of the Keep and opening it.

"Thanks kid. How's wonder man doing?" He hustled into the room and right on over to the exam chair to see him partner downing water and holding an ice pack to his face.

"Just great there, buddy." Darien answered with false joviality. "My skin might grow back in a month or two. Oh, and you failed to break the nose. You'll have to do better next time."

"Whoa, easy there, my friend." Hobbes raised his hands in defense. "Not my fault the mook zigged when I zagged. And I did drag your scrawny ass up that hillside in case you've forgotten." 

Claire moved up beside Bobby. "We got the impression you were the one who knocked him down the hill."

Hobbes shrugged with a touch of embarrassment crossing his features. "Technically ... yeah. I guess I did. But you should've seen his Jack imitation. Quite impressive."

Alyx shook her head. "Next time try not to break his crown, please?" she requested, and Bobby turned to meet her eyes.

"I'll do what I can, but no promises. He's becoming a professional at getting the crap beaten out of him." Hobbes responded as blandly as possible, suddenly feeling possessive of _his_ partner.

Alyx got the unspoken message loud and clear. "All right, I'm outta here."

"Alyx..." Claire began only to be cut off.

"I remember, Keep." And with that she was gone, not wanting to intrude on the three of them, especially when she was clearly not wanted.

Claire smacked Bobby on the arm. "Bobby, that was rude."

"What?" Hobbes asked in confusion, resisting the urge to rub the spot. Damn, the woman could hit.

"Hobbes, even I could tell you wanted her to leave." Darien said as he slowly slid off the chair and debated putting what was left of his shirt back on.

"Let me get you a clean shirt, Darien." Claire made her way to the closet that was to the left of the main door and pulled out a dark blue scrub top and brought it to him. "Bobby, you keep forgetting she can _feel_ what you are, even if you don't telegraph your intentions in your speech or mannerisms. For Alyx, you are easy to read."

Hobbes grumbled under his breath as Darien pulled the shirt on over his head, easing it over the raw skin and bruised muscles. "Not my fault." he finally stated loud enough for them to hear. "I just haven't figured out how to deal with her ... outside of work, that is."

"We've noticed." Darien ran a hand through his hair and was disconcerted by the amount of detritus he encountered. "Crap." He gave his head a good shake, brushing both hands through it, and making Claire squawk in complaint at the mess, but not allowing that to stop him until he was reasonably sure the worst of it was gone. "How's she doing, anyway?"

Claire debated not answering on grounds of doctor/patient confidentiality, but realized he was simply showing a natural concern and curiosity about a friend and co-worker. "Well enough. She's still having problems sleeping and the medications are not helping nearly enough. We're trying to get her on a more normal sleep schedule with little success. I suggested she try melatonin supplements to see if that helps at all."

"What? She not telling you herself any more?" Hobbes questioned of Darien in an aggrieved tone. The two of them spending time together after hours was still a source of irritation for Hobbes and had caused him and Fawkes to have several arguments over the matter. Usually resulting with one or the other storming off and, on one occasion, nearly resulting in blows.

"Hobbes, except for work stuff, I've been over to her place once since New Years. Happy?" Darien snapped, making it plain he wasn't.

"Brilliant, Bobby." Claire commented sarcastically in an undertone as she walked past him.

Hobbes scratched the top of his head in consternation, considering the two of them had been near inseparable just a few weeks ago, he'd just assumed Fawkes was still heading to her place after hours. "Fawkes..."

"Forget it, Hobbes. Too much work and not enough sleep; its getting to all of us." His words were becoming annoyingly familiar as they had all complained loudly and often about it in the last few weeks, only to have the words fall on the completely deaf ears of the Official. In fact, it almost felt like the workload had doubled since the first of the year. Even Claire was looking more than a little burned out. "Dinner?" he asked of the pair, and both nodded vigorously.

"That Chinese place on 6th? In an hour?" Hobbes suggested, knowing how Claire loved Chinese. "Give Fawkes here a chance to pretty himself up." 

Darien gave Hobbes a look that threatened bodily harm if he didn't shut up.

"Perfect, Bobby." Claire's smile was more than enough to ease Darien's impending grouchiness. His stomach rumbling at the mere thought of food was also an encouragement to let Hobbes' commentary pass by without a comeback.

"Yeah, I'll be there." Darien shuffled to the door and stepped through once it had opened wide enough, but he still caught Hobbes' final jibe.

"With bells on, I'm sure."

The black clad figure strode silently down the ill-lit hallway with an ease that could only have been achieved with years of practice. Stopping before his target he swiftly swept the hallway with his gaze to confirm the lack of any other nearby presence. Going to one knee, he removed the set of lock picks from the small satchel he wore and went to work on the well-above standard locks on the door before him. 

After just a few seconds he heard the thoroughly satisfying click as the tumblers fell into place in the second of the two locks and with a feral grin he stashed away the picks and stood. Sliding the door open about an inch, he encountered the next hazard, the specially rigged chain lock that would have been more than enough to defeat the average thief. But _he_ was anything but average, withdrawing a second tool from his bag of tricks and had the chain unhooked in seemingly no time at all. 

Sliding the door open just enough to allow him to pass through sideways, he entered the darkened apartment and closed the door with nary a sound. Though his eyes were already adjusted to the darkness, he still paused for a moment to orient and get a feel for the space about him. Tripping over something unexpected or unanticipated in the darkness had taken more than one thief down over the years. He didn't plan to become yet another name on _that_ list.

Once reasonably certain nothing had been moved since the last time that he'd seen the place, he walked confidently and silently across the floor heading towards the opposite side of the room. As he drew near his ultimate target, mumbles and mutters could be heard, some sadly piteous to his ears.

Skirting about the simple bamboo panels that attempted to offer some privacy for what lay on the far side, he removed his black gloves and slipped them into the satchel as his goal came into sight. The sheets had been twisted about her as she tossed and turned while in the throes of some nightmarish hell her sleeping mind had conjured up. Pulling up the balaclava that hid his face, he crouched down alongside the bed and frowned, his brown eyes looking sad and worried. Reaching out he ran his fingers across her cheekbone, his touch interrupting the soft cries of fear emanating from her and causing her to go breathlessly still.

"Shhh, its all right. You're safe." he said in a calm voice and was once again amazed at the way she responded. This was the third time he'd pulled this stunt and, as near as he could tell, she still had no idea.

She muttered something else, though all he caught was his name, and shifted a bit. Relaxing and settling into the thickly cushioned pillows a bit more comfortably. Removing his hand, he stood, fully intent on leaving as he had every other time. He stood over her just watching her sleeping form for a moment, looking so young and tiny on the huge bed. 

When she spoke, her words were no more than a whisper in the darkness.

"Don't leave."

He froze not sure he'd really heard her, but when he saw her eyes flutter open, looking remarkably bright in the minimal lighting of the room, he knew he'd been caught. 

She turned her head slightly, to see him looming over her, to convince him she was indeed awake enough to realize he was there, having broken into her home like a thief in the night. Though what he was intent on stealing she wasn't quite sure.

"Please."

Pulling the balaclava off completely he dropped it, slipped the satchel off his shoulder, to hit the floor next to his thief's mask, with a dull thud, and kicked off his black sneakers. Lowering his body onto the bed next to her he said softly, "Till you fall asleep."

She shuddered as he wrapped his arms about her, his presence momentarily driving away the demons from her past that haunted her nights. "Darien..."

"Sleep. I'll keep the dreams away for a while." He pulled her close; her head buried against his chest, her body feeling chilled even in the warm apartment. He adjusted the covers, drawing them up to her shoulders and ran his hands over her back in random patterns. It took several minutes, but she eventually relaxed, her breathing becoming deeper and more regular. Yet still he stayed, lying awake in the darkness to do as he'd promised. 

__

The chick who taught me just about everything I know about burglary had a motto that went "faster's better." Yeah, you've heard it before. It worked for lots of things. Like getting in and out on a job. You don't hang around once you have the booty to read War and Peace. You get the hell out of Dodge and enjoy the spoils of victory elsewhere.

At other times the phrase "patience is a virtue" is the one to follow. When planning a heist you gotta be patient, make sure you know all the potential traps and pitfalls before moving in to make the score. And, ya know what? It doesn't matter what the prize is. Cash, jewels ... or someone's heart. 

Finis


End file.
